Description of Historic Place

Located in a rural setting on the bank of the Nerepis River in Grand Bay-Westfield, Mount Hope Farm is a Loyalist farmhouse and homestead associated with the Nase family.

Heritage Value

This Loyalist house, believed to be built in 1786, was designated for its representation of a farmhouse and homestead from the 18th century in New Brunswick.

Mount Hope Farm is also significant for its continuous association with the Nase family and descendents, which have occupied this site for more than 200 years.
This association can be traced to Colonel Henry Nase, purportedly the first United Empire Loyalist to come to the area. Colonel Nase had served with the Royal Army’s King’s American Regiment at King’s Bridge, New York during the American Revolution.

In the late eighteenth century, thousands of United Empire Loyalists, commonly known in Canadian history as the Loyalists, left the newly created United States to settle under the British flag in Nova Scotia and in the unsettled lands above the St. Lawrence rapids and north of Lake Ontario. One of the immediate consequences of this huge influx was the establishment, in 1784, of the separate British colony of New Brunswick that had, up until this point, been included in Nova Scotia.

Source: Department of Wellness, Culture and Sport - Heritage Branch, Site File #71

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements that describe Mount Hope Farm include:
- intact form of the original house;
- unaltered centre hall house plan;
- well proportioned eighteenth century front south room with a large fireplace, crane and warming oven;
- eighteenth century interior features including low six-panel and plank doors, wood trim and door hardware;
- visible indication of original stairway in central hall;
- original window and door openings;
- original nineteenth century window sashes and exterior cladding and trim;
- exterior building finishes and details reflecting changes made by successive generations;
- side ell constructed about 1900 against the northeast wall replacing an earlier structure.