Haller Nutt was born on February 17, 1816, on Laurel Hill Plantation in Jefferson County, Mississippi.
[1] He suffered large financial losses during the American Civil War due to the destruction of his cotton fields and real estate.
[4] Nevertheless, the expropriation of stores and supplies by the Union and Confederate armies led to the foreclosure on Nutt's plantations in Louisiana.
[1] After the war, he filed documents with the federal government that would compensate for the loss of assets due to the Union army.
They hired Philadelphia architect Samuel Sloan to design the multistory octagonal in the Oriental Revival style.
With the threat of the Civil War looming, Sloan's artisans soon halted their construction, fearing for their safety, and fled back to the North.