"People from over around the South Carolina line would travel to Athens to market their goods," said Mayor B.W. Hutchins. "They would stop over and water their animals ... at the well. That's why we protect the well."

HULL, Ga. - It's so small that at one point in 2003 the only city council members were the mayor and his wife.

After an election to replace the open seats, the five-member council included two married couples. Even the organizer of the parade for the city's annual festival doesn't live there.

But the residents of Hull, a small city of about 150 on the Madison-Clarke County line, know their identity.

"Somebody once said it's a Hull of a place to live, and I agree with that," Councilman Paul Elkins said.

The city, celebrating its centennial this year, will honor its past during the Seventh Annual Hull Spring Festival with a parade, music and a tribute to the city's past mayors, including Paul Murray, who once owned a store in town and served as the city's first mayor from 1930-38. The May 28 festival will be from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m.

"(There are) so many people that live outside the city that take real pride in what the city does," said Mayor B.W. Hutchins, who served as a Madison County commissioner from 1987-91. "If you let the grass get a little high, somebody that lives about a mile away may call you up and say, 'Don't you need to mow the grass?' "

Hull residents - like Eddie Mae England, a mother of five who has lived in the city since 1962 - pride themselves on the small-town atmosphere where everybody knows one another.

"We love one another and we all pitch in and help in times of need," England said.

Only a handful of Georgia's towns and cities are smaller than Hull, which had just 160 people at the 2000 census and 78 homes in an area about one-third of a mile.

Mary Cummins, a self-described Yankee transplant from Indiana who now lives between Colbert and Comer in southeastern Madison County, is parade chairman for this year's festival and speaks highly of the city. Despite not living in Hull, she called city officials and volunteered to help with the festival planning.

Hull gets its name from Hope Hull, a Methodist minister born March 12, 1763, in Somerset, Md., who served during the Revolutionary War. According to popular belief, the minister built Hull's Meetinghouse in 1810 in the general vicinity of the town, and the building served as the first Methodist church in the area.

But the small town that everyone loves continues to have an unusual problem - it's hard to find people to fill city council seats.

In February 2003, two council members resigned for personal reasons, leaving only Hutchins and his wife, Rebecca, on the council. Councilman John Barber resigned last month because he moved out of the city; an election to fill the seat is slated for June 21.

This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the Hull Volunteer Fire Department.

When the fire department started, according to legend, the city purchased a truck with county money and left it parked in the middle of a pasture. When a report of a fire went out, anyone could run to the truck and drive it to the scene.

Today, the city has four fire trucks and a rescue vehicle, volunteer firefighter Jimmy King said.

For years, the town was known for its well, and travelers made a point to stop in the city, which probably originated closer to Spratlin Mill Road than its current location along Georgia Highway 72.

Regardless, Hull is known as "The Well City" because of the well that supplied residents with water, and the historic well still stands.

"People from over around the South Carolina line would travel to Athens to market their goods," Hutchins said. "They would stop over and water their animals ... at the well. That's why we protect the well."

But when it comes to the early history of Hull, Elkins is quick to admit it's a little fuzzy. "Record-keeping wasn't a real strong point," says Elkins, who has researched the city's history through back issues of area newspapers.

"There was little or no notification of anything happening in Hull, with the exception of one thing - the taxman cometh three times a year," Elkins said of articles in older newspapers.

"It's a city that started out as little more than a stopping point," Elkins said. "It pretty much stayed that way up until the '30s. In the '30s, we began to see some activity - things like a town marshal who worked on commission. We always thought that was pretty funny."