Historic Hope

Historic Hope is the public-facing preservation and educational operation associated with Hope Plantation, also known as Hope Mansion, near Windsor in Bertie County, North Carolina. The subject is not a conventional commercial brand: it represents a historic property, its nonprofit steward, and the programs through which the site is interpreted for visitors, schools, universities, researchers, and community audiences. The principal building was completed in 1803 for David Stone, a lawyer, planter, North Carolina governor, and United States senator. Stone inherited the Hope tract shortly before his marriage to Hannah Turner and commissioned a substantial residence whose design drew on European architectural models. The house is an important American example of Palladian design executed in timber, with a symmetrical five-bay façade, a pedimented double portico, Chinese Chippendale balustrades, four chimneys, and a roof-level widow’s walk. Neoclassical elements were incorporated into the otherwise Federal-period composition. The property’s history reaches back beyond the mansion. Land in the area was associated with Indigenous peoples, including the Tuscarora and neighboring Meherrin, before colonial settlement. In the eighteenth century, land near the western end of Albemarle Sound and the Cashie River was granted to the Hobson family. Elizabeth Hobson later married Zedekiah Stone, who gave the property the name Hope in recognition of her English heritage. David Stone’s earlier family residence and the locations of enslaved workers’ quarters have been investigated through archaeological work. During the plantation era, the broader estate extended across roughly 1,000 acres and was worked by more than 200 enslaved people, a history that forms an essential part of the site’s interpretation. After David Stone’s death and the later sale of the house by his son in 1836, Hope passed through successive ownerships. By the twentieth century it had experienced prolonged neglect and was in serious condition. Local citizens and wider North Carolina supporters organized to save it, leading to the chartering of Historic Hope Foundation, Inc. on February 2, 1965. The foundation acquired the property and undertook a largely grassroots restoration campaign. Restoration was completed in 1972. Today, Historic Hope presents the restored mansion, period furnishings, gardens, archaeological areas, and associated buildings as a cultural and educational resource. The collection and interiors are interpreted using documentary evidence, including inventories connected with David Stone and reconstructed information about his library and household. The site also includes the restored King-Bazemore House, a mid-eighteenth-century vernacular hall-and-parlor dwelling, as well as a kitchen, dairy, smokehouse, store buildings, herb garden, kitchen garden, barn, and extensive grounds. Programs include tours, school and university linkages, educational activities, public events, and fundraising functions such as the Governor Stone Ball. Management is carried out by the Historic Hope Foundation through its board, with public access supported through the site’s preservation and tourism arrangements.

The land associated with Hope Plantation lies in the coastal plain of eastern North Carolina, near the Cashie River and the western end of Albemarle Sound. Before colonial settlement, the wider area was used by Indigenous communities and contains evidence of hunting activity. In the 1720s, the Lords Proprietors of Carolina granted approximately 1,100 acres in the region to the Hobson family. Francis Hobson and Elizabeth Hobson came from England, and after Francis’s death Elizabeth inherited the property. Her subsequent marriage to Zedekiah Stone transferred the estate into the Stone family. Zedekiah named it Hope, referring to Elizabeth’s connection with Hope Parish in Derbyshire. The Stones established an earlier dwelling on the property. Archaeological investigations have examined remnants of that structure and probable locations associated with enslaved workers and plantation operations. Their son David Stone was born in 1770. Educated at Princeton, where he graduated first in his class, Stone became a lawyer and a prominent North Carolina political figure. He later served as governor and as a United States senator. In 1793 he married Hannah Turner, and shortly before the marriage his father transferred the Hope tract to him. Stone built the present mansion in 1803. Its plan closely follows a design published in Abraham Swann’s architectural book The British Architect, a volume known to have been in Stone’s library. The resulting house combines the Palladian preference for symmetry and ordered proportions with Federal and early neoclassical details. Constructed primarily from local first-growth pine and raised on brick piers, it has a five-bay front, a double portico with an elaborate Chinese Chippendale railing, a widow’s walk, and a carefully balanced arrangement of windows and chimneys. A letter concerning marble and red stone for the fireplaces documents the quality of materials used in the interior. The interior was designed for both domestic life and formal entertaining. The upper level contains the major entertaining rooms, including a large drawing room resembling a ballroom, while bedrooms, family spaces, and the dining room occupy the entry level. A double central hall, a partially enclosed staircase, a large upper landing, and David Stone’s library contribute to the building’s unusual scale for rural eastern North Carolina. Stone’s death without a will resulted in a detailed inventory of his property. The foundation later used this documentary record to furnish and interpret the house with an unusual degree of historical specificity. David Stone’s son sold the property in 1836. Hope subsequently changed hands several times and suffered nearly a century of neglect. By the 1960s the building required urgent intervention. Local residents, joined by supporters from across North Carolina, pressed for a rescue effort even after the condition of the property was described pessimistically by a state official. The Historic Hope Foundation, Inc. was chartered on February 2, 1965, purchased the house, and began a grassroots restoration. The principal restoration was completed in late summer 1972. The foundation continues to preserve and interpret the property. The visitor experience includes the mansion, the circa-1763 King-Bazemore House, reconstructed or restored service buildings, gardens, archaeological areas, and approximately 45 acres of grounds. The King-Bazemore House is interpreted as an important surviving example of mid-eighteenth-century hall-and-parlor architecture in North Carolina and was furnished using evidence from an eighteenth-century inventory. The site’s programs connect preservation with public history, education, tourism, and research. Its events include the Governor Stone Ball, which serves as a fundraising and community function. The site’s interpretation also acknowledges the plantation economy and the more than 200 enslaved people who worked the larger estate, placing the architectural achievement within its broader historical context.

• 1972

  Restoration completed

  [1]Hope Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  The principal restoration effort was completed by late summer.

• 1965

  Historic Hope Foundation chartered

  [1]Hope Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  The nonprofit Historic Hope Foundation, Inc. was chartered on February 2 to acquire and rescue the neglected house.

• 1836

  Property sold by David Stone’s son

  [1]Hope Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  The property left the direct Stone family after David Stone’s son sold it.

• 1803

  Hope Mansion completed

  [1]Hope Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  David Stone completed the principal mansion, an ambitious timber residence in the Palladian and Federal traditions.

• 1770

  Birth of David Stone

  [1]Hope Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  David Stone, the future builder of the mansion and a later governor and senator, was born.

• 1765

  Hope enters the Stone family

  [1]Hope Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  After Francis Hobson’s death, Elizabeth Hobson inherited the property and later married Zedekiah Stone, who named the estate Hope.

• 1720

  Hobson family land grant

  [1]Hope Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  The Lords Proprietors of Carolina granted roughly 1,100 acres near the western end of Albemarle Sound to the Hobson family.

A nonprofit historic-preservation and heritage-education destination focused on the architecture, material culture, landscape, archaeology, and social history of Hope Plantation and eastern North Carolina.

• Historic house · 1803

  Hope Mansion

  The principal visitor attraction is the 1803 plantation house built for David Stone. Its Palladian composition, Federal-period detailing, timber construction, double portico, Chinese Chippendale balustrades, widow’s walk, period rooms, library interpretation, and documented furnishings form the core of Historic Hope’s public identity.

• Historic house · 1763

  King-Bazemore House

  The circa-1763 King-Bazemore House is interpreted as a surviving example of vernacular hall-and-parlor architecture in North Carolina. It has been restored and furnished using evidence from an eighteenth-century inventory associated with William King, providing a complementary perspective on regional domestic architecture.

• Heritage site

  Historic grounds and outbuildings

  The site includes a reconstructed kitchen on its original footprint, a restored dairy, smokehouse, store buildings, herb and kitchen gardens, a circa-1800 barn, archaeological areas, and approximately 45 acres of grounds. Together these features extend interpretation beyond the mansion to household work, agriculture, landscape, and plantation operations.

• Education and heritage services

  Educational and public programs

  Historic Hope provides tours, educational programming, and linkages with schools and universities. These activities use the property, collections, architecture, archaeology, and documentary evidence to support public history and heritage learning.

• 1965Grassroots rescue and restoration campaign

  Bertie County · North Carolina

  Local citizens and supporters from across North Carolina organized the Historic Hope Foundation to acquire and rehabilitate the severely neglected plantation house.

  Outcome. The foundation acquired the property, launched restoration, and completed the principal work in 1972.

  Source

1. 1Hope Plantationen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Historic Hope official websitehistorichope.org
3. 3National Register Information Systemnps.gov