By 1890, Hardy and Mary's son Aaron Hardy Shelton and daughter Lucy's husband Irvin Spruce owned part of lots of 47, 48, and 49 in the Flatwoods district. Pierce Shropshire (husband of Lucy and Irvin Spruce's daughter Lizzie), their son George, and Peter Powell, the husband of Mary Shelton, would also later own part of the lots. Hardy and Mary’s descendants would also own portions of lots 25, 26, and 61.
It was at Possum Trot that they would raise their children. Their lives and their land remain entwined with the history of Berry College, with the most tangible artifact being their graves and the graves of their families in the Shelton Family Cemetery behind the Possum Trot Chapel.
Photo from 1902