**Exhibit 31.1**
Certification pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350 as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of theSarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a) and Rule 15d-14 under the SecuritiesExchange Act of 1934
In connection with the Annual Report Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the SecuritiesExchange Act of 1934 on Form 10-KSB of Hartville Group, Inc. (the “Company”) for the period endedDecember 31, 2004, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the date hereof (the“Report”), I, W. Russell Smith III, CEO of the Company, certify, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Sec.1350, asadopted pursuant to Section 302 and 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, and pursuant to Rule13a-14 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, that:
1. I have reviewed the Report being filed;
2. Based on my knowledge, the Report does not contain any untrue statement of a material factor omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of thecircumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the periodcovered by the Report;
3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information includedin the Report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results ofoperations and cash flows of the Company as of, and for, the period presented in the Report;
4. I am responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (assuch term is defined in paragraph (c) of Rule 13a-14) for the Company and have:
     i. Designed such disclosure controls and procedures to ensure that material informationrelating to the Company, including its consolidated subsidiaries, if any, is made known to them byothers within those entities, particularly during the period in which the periodic reports arebeing prepared;
     ii. Evaluated the effectiveness of the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures as ofa date within 90 days prior to the filing date of the Report (“Evaluation Date”); and
     iii. Presented in the Report their conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosurecontrols and procedures based on their evaluation as of the Evaluation Date;
5. I and the other certifying officers have disclosed, based on their most recent evaluation,to the Company’s auditors and the audit committee of the board of directors (or persons fulfillingthe equivalent function):
     i. All significant deficiencies in the design or operation of internal controls whichcould adversely affect the Company’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financialdata and have identified for the Company’s auditors any material weaknesses in internal controls;and
     ii. Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees whohave a significant role in the Company’s internal controls; and
6. I and the other certifying officers have indicated in the report whether or not there weresignificant changes in internal controls or in other factors that could significantly affectinternal controls subsequent to the date of their most recent evaluation, including any correctiveactions with regard to significant deficiencies and material weaknesses.
Dated: April 22, 2005     /s/ W. Russell Smith III W. Russell Smith III, CEO