Southwest Sierra #92 – Hope House

About six years after Al Hope died, we heard a rumor that Mary wanted to sell her house. By that time, I had my own family, and we were living in the cabin next to the Golden Bear Mine Bunkhouse. I contacted Mary immediately to ask about the house. Her asking price was high and way out of range for us, so we didn’t give it another thought.

When we moved to Alleghany proper in 1992 to help care for my mom, Mary was not living in the house. It was vacant. Towards the end of Mom’s life, one day, on a whim, I walked up to the Hope House. It was a clear fall day, and I noticed that someone had put a note on the door. I walked onto the porch for a closer look. The note said “House Hunter” and included a phone number. I knew that it was wrong, but I took that note and shoved it in my pocket. When I got home, I stuck it in my bible. (Not sure why, maybe asking for forgiveness?)

After Mom died in late 1995, we were still living in the little cabin on Miners Street. To leave Alleghany via a paved road, you must drive by the Hope House. During that time, frequently, as we passed the house, I would suddenly remember a dream about being there. Usually, the dream was that I was working in the yard. One dream was different and stands out. I was in the yard under the large oak tree next to the house. The branches were bare, the sky was dark, and I could see the planet Venus shining brightly through the branches of the tree. As I stood there in the dream, looking up at Venus, I wished for that house to be my home.

In the spring of 1996, we heard that Mary had lowered the asking price for the house. I called her, and she had come down $20,000! She was willing to carry the loan and wanted 10% down. Mary complained that not a single person had sent her an offer in writing all those years. She said that many people had said they wanted the house, but not a single one had made an offer in writing. I had recently started working full-time for the 16 to 1 Mine and David was working full-time as well. I told her that we were interested and would submit an offer ASAP. Wouldn’t you know it? The very next day, Mary called me at work and said that she had gotten an offer in writing! Naturally, she wouldn’t tell me the amount. I was able to verify who the person who had made the offer was, and of course, they wouldn’t divulge the amount either. Mary gave us a week to make a counteroffer.

We wanted the house so badly. After scraping up everything we could, we were only $1,500 short of having enough for a down payment. We asked Mike Miller if we could borrow $1,500 from the mine, and he said yes! We made a full-price offer in writing without even going inside the house. We knew that the house was in bad shape. It was the location that we loved. Later we found out that the other offer was $15,000 lower than ours, but good on Mary! She was able to move into a retirement home where she wanted to be. To make our new mortgage payment and pay the mine back, in addition to our full-time work, we cut firewood to sell. At the time, we had our boys to help, and they did!

Mary was happy that we got the house. She said that I was one of the first to inquire about it seven years earlier. By coincidence, Mary Hope wrote a weekly article for the Mountain Messenger for several years. Now I am trying to do the same thing from the same house, but, as some readers have noticed, sometimes I am too busy! Thanks to The Messenger for allowing a flexible submission schedule.