BLYTHEWOOD – Kate Iseman says what a lot of folks do about the historic Muller House, which is located at a very visible spot on Muller Road: It’s a place she long viewed as a “dream home.”
But for her and her family of five, the dream has become reality, and they’re now in the process of moving to the scenic Blythewood property from their former home in Forest Acres.
“We’ve been wanting to move out to the country with our kids for years. We lived in downtown Columbia in a neighborhood, and it was great, but we’ve always wanted to have our kids grow up on a farm. We’ve just kind of been waiting for the right thing to come along,” says Iseman, whose three children – Marion, Hunt, and Hampton – range in age from 2 to 10.
“There’s nothing that could be more perfect about it. The old home is special; it has so much character. The view – the rolling hills, the barn – we’ve got an apartment for family and friends to stay, and it’s just a really special, special place.”
Her husband, Hunter, is a former professional polo player who now works in veterinary sales – and she runs a technology brokerage firm called Cicada, which she will now operate from an office space that she plans to create in one of the structures on the farm.
“This is such beautiful scenery,” Kate Iseman says, “that it’s hard to pay attention to my work.”
The Muller House, so called for the longtime owners – the Muller family – who also lent their name to the road it sits on, was built in 1810 and owned by the Haighwood or Haygood family, says Martha Boney McCoy, one of the two realtors with Blythewood’s Home Advantage Realty office involved in the Isemans’ purchase of the property.
Dr. Bill Moore and his family, the most recent owners of the property, lived there for 26 years.
The house and land – which includes three parcels totaling just under 24 acres and is located at one of the highest elevations in Richland County – sold for $1.16 million, says McCoy.
According to a local history written by Rachel Muller Kempson in 1979, the Hagood farm (a name with multiple spellings apparently) originally comprised 1,450 acres and the house is a hip-roofed two-story home with brick chimneys, hand-carved mantles, hand-hewn windowsills, and heart pine floors.
The land was used to grow cotton until the boll weevil wreaked havoc on cotton crops in the early 20th century, after which it was used to produce grain and then became home to dairy cows, chickens, and cattle, according to Kempson’s history.
In the more than two centuries that have passed since its construction, the house has changed hands many times and undergone multiple additions and renovations – but it still retains the historical style of its era.
Some decades ago, it became a horse farm, says McCoy, and it now neighbors with some of the finest equestrian properties in the Blythewood community.
The farm property has a six-stall horse barn with a second story apartment, a paddock barn, a separate gym and workshop on the grounds, shared pond, farm implement garage and storage, acres of rolling maintained horse pastures and fencing and other out buildings.
The 4,302 sq.-ft home and apartment above the barn have a total of 5 bedrooms and 6 baths. The house has an outdoor kitchen and picturesque views of the farm from much of the home, including from a sunroom overlooking a large saltwater swimming pool.
The farm has long been used by locals as a backdrop for prom, wedding, and engagement photos.
For now, the home and other buildings are bustling with contractors scraping, painting and otherwise updating the home for the new family.
“It’s just full of rich history,” McCoy says. “It’s one of the oldest houses in Blythewood, and it’s always been well-maintained and very stately.”
Steve Boney, the other realtor involved in the transaction, says that he too has always been an admirer of the well-kept property and its beautiful natural setting.
“For me it’s always been a special place,” he says, “because I grew up in Blythewood, and I always had a fascination for the house and the property as it went through the previous owners.”
Iseman says that while they’re still working out details, she and her family have “definitely more animals to come for sure” to join the horses, donkey, dog, and two barn cats that are either already there or will be arriving soon.
But she says the main potential she sees in the Muller House and the surrounding land is in its value as a backdrop to raise her family – and that’s their main vision for its future.
“We’re gonna take great care of the property. We know how special it is, and we’ve got young children,” Iseman says. “It’s just all the memories that we’re going to make with our family and friends, and we picture a lot of that.”
