If you’ve always dreamed of a country retreat that’s near enough to civilization to get groceries or go to a restaurant but far enough out to see the stars and enjoy the sound of frogs and crickets instead of highway noise, and if you’ve always dreamed of owning a piece of Mississippi’s early history as a state, then Mt. Hope might be for you. Great news–it’s for sale!
According to the listing by Cline Realty on Lands of America:
A rare opportunity to own a piece of Mississippi history, Mt. Hope Plantation, circa 1820, the oldest standing structure in Copiah County, is now being offered for sale. This gem is on the National Register of Historic Places and has been recognized as a Mississippi State Landmark. Lovingly restored with no detail overlooked, this property has 4 large bedrooms, 4 full baths and 7 fireplaces (3 gas log fireplaces and 4 wood burning) with a 5500 square foot floor plan conducive to comfortable country living. The 20 acre pastoral setting has several distinctive outbuildings with fenced fields, just perfect for horses or cattle. With two distinct and connected wings, the layout of the home could easily be set up as a Bed and Breakfast, wedding or retreat venue.
The historic property was listed on the National Register in 1985, and according to the nomination by Dr. Michael Fazio:
Mount Hope is a well preserved example of a fairly rare immigrant architectural style in Mississippi the so-called “I”-frame (note: more typically called the “I-house” nowadays). Such buildings, based on English prototypes, probably evolved their New World form in North Carolina, then spread south through the Piedmont region to Georgia, then west through the Alabama Black Belt and into Mississippi. Such structures were often built of brick in the Mid-Atlantic States (Glassie, Pattern in the Material Culture of the Eastern U.S., 66ff), but were more frequently constructed of wood in the timberlands of the Deep South.
If you’re interested, check out the online listing, scroll through the pictures, and give the realtor a call.
http://www.landsofamerica.com/property/0-Old-Port-Gibson-Road-Hazlehurst-Mississippi-39083/3479392
Categories: Antebellum, For Sale, Hazlehurst
Preservation in Mississippi 
A beautiful historic house. Thank you for this E.L. I was intrigued by the Rice name, knowing that relatives of John Washington Rice of Oktibbeha County, third owner of Oktibbeha’s Meadow Woods Plantation, had relatives who settled in south Mississippi. I wonder if Charles Benjamin Nicolas Rice might have been the builder of Mount Hope, listed in the HRI as possibly built in 1836? The earliest readily available record of Charles B.N. Rice as a settler in Copiah County is the 1841 state census. Charles Benjamin Nicolas Rice was the brother of John Saunders Rice, father of John Washington Rice. The family was from Chester, South Carolina, although they were originally from VA. The 1850 census of Gallatin, Copiah County, MS, indicates that the earliest child of Charles and Mary Rice born in Mississippi was born in 1841. Charles’ brother John Saunders Rice bought Oktibbaha County’s Meadow Woods Plantation and 1442 acres in 1848; his wife passed it to son John Washington Rice after the death of her husband in Talladega, Alabama.
http://aquila.usm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1139&context=theprimarysource
I’m intrigued that both Mount Hope and the Meadow Woods home were both dogtrots.
Perhaps there are earlier records at MDAH that might lend documentation to Charles Benjamin Nicolas Rice as the original owner of Mount Hope. Dr. Fazio’s nomination states that Copiah County records begin in 1836. A Wikipedia article on Hazlehurt, MS states that two men named Saunders and Walters were the earliest founders of Gallatin, now extinct, and named it after their home in Gallatin, TN. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazlehurst,_Mississippi
Charles Rice and John Saunders Rice’s mother was Mary Saunders Rice. i note that a Thomas Saunders/Sanders, apparently originally from SC and listed on the Copiah Co. 1830 census with family and slaves, died in 1835, leaving some 500+ acres to his family. He may be the Thomas Sanders who purchased land in Copiah County as early as 1825.
It would certainly add historical context to Mount Hope if someone has time to more fully flesh out the family or families connected to this historic home and property.
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Thanks for the infos, I’m living in that house now and I’m fascinated by the house history.
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Thanks for the infos, I’m living at mount hope now and I’m fascinated the history of that house.
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