A few years ago when “Hope Farm” fell into the hands of Mr. and Mrs. Balfour Miller it was truly “getting a break” for rehabilitation. Today when one steps into this old Spanish house, built about 1775, there breathes from every crevice and corner the true atmosphere of the Old South.

The original portion of Hope Farm, its English wing, is believed to have been built by Marcus Haller. The front, the straight, low, Spanish portion, was built by the Spanish Governor, de Grand Pre, about the year 1790.

The low sweeping roof extending over a broad portico across the entire front of the house is upheld by seven hand-hewn cypress columns. Broad steps lead from the driveway to the terraced yard. This yard is a veritable bouquet of old-fashioned small flowers, bordered by boxwood and flanked by syringa, japonica, and other old-fashioned evergreen shrubs. A radiant variety of orchid-like irises dot the entire approach to the old brick steps of the terrace.

For ninety years Hope Farm belonged to the Montgomery family; of the last generation of ten children (seven girls and three boys) two of the sisters lived in spinsterhood at Hope Farm until within the last few years when the property was acquired by the Millers.

Restoration of exterior and interior has been done with exceeding care to hold every line of the original house. There were no nails in the day when Hope Farm was built and its timbers are held together by wooden pegs.

The front door leads directly into a huge living room, which opens through an archway into a large dining room. These two rooms extend across the entire front.

The welcoming gate of Hope Farm opens at the intersection of Homochitto street on the drive to Duncan Park.