DISAPPOINTED HOPES
The legend has persisted through the years that Mr. Hammond built the beautiful house for his intended bride. The delicacy and abundance of the carved ornamentation, the elegance and refinement of detail, seem to bear witness to the story. A bachelor would have been content, perhaps, with the splendid plan, solid construction and fine proportion of his house. Ironically, it was because of his intense preoccupation with the very details designed to please her, that his fiancée became disenchanted and refused to marry him. Whether broken-hearted or embittered, he remained a bachelor to the end of his days, devoting himself to affairs of state.