Historic Hope, built in 1803, is an early house built in the Palladian mode of the federal style, located on the Carolina Coastal Plain, near Windsor, North Carolina, in the United States.
The plantation house was built by David Stone, a member of the coastal Carolina planter class, later Governor of North Carolina and a United States senator. One of the finest examples of Palladian design built in timber, the manor house is slightly modified by neo-classical elements.
The facade has five bays and a pedimented double portico with the original Chinese Chippendale balustrade. Crowning the house is a widow’s walk with matching railing. The interior of the house displays a height and grandeur rare in the region, and is furnished with a unique collection of period furniture, art and artifacts.
The house was sold by David Stone’s son in 1836, and then passed through many hands. It endured decades of neglect. When rehabilitation of the structure was first considered in the 1960s and the state approached for aid by local citizens the executive director of the North Carolina Department of Archives and History said, “Hope is hopeless.”[11]
However, the Hope enthusiasts were not to be deterred and on February 2, 1965, the Historic Hope Foundation, Incorporated was chartered. The house was bought by the Foundation and a largely grass-roots restoration effort was launched.
By the late summer of the 1972, the restoration was complete.
