The three-bay west section was built about 1834, and included an earlier overseer's cabin, c. 1782, with a two-bay "new addition" to the east in the 1860s, after the Civil War.

[2] Historical myths abound regarding a number of events at Mount Hope over its approximately 232 years as a residence.

These include British troops allegedly stopping at the Magruder Spring on the plantation on August 24, 1814, en route to the armed resistance at the Battle of Bladensburg and burning of Washington.

Magruder, lieutenant in the CSA, mortally wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg, transported by buckboard (behind enemy lines) to his aunt and uncle's house where he died a fortnight after arriving.

The mythical ghost of a young woman associate of Lieutenant Magruder, with a wry sense of humor, occasionally visits Mount Hope.