A feast of reason and a flow of soul.  Samuel Haycraft portrays a romantic description of the first dinner parties held at The House on Helm in his book A History of Elizabethtown.  The home was built circa 1812 by Major Benjamin Helm, the son of one of three founding families of Elizabethtown and a prominent and influential businessman, politician and banker.  He and his wife, Mary Edwards Helm, were known to be distinguished entertainers and so it is fitting that the home is once again hostess to festive celebrations.  

The Helm family owned the home for 70 years until 1882 when family heirs sold the property to James Hillary Bryan, under whom the house fell into disrepair and was used to store hay.  In 1894, Charles Wesley and Julia Phillips Terry purchased the home and set about restoring it to its original glory.  The Terry family owned the home for five generations until 2017 when Joy Swope and Scott Galey purchased the home with a vision of expanding the home’s community reach as an event venue for intimate celebrations, thereby conceptualizing The House on Helm.  

This Federal-style home was the second brick residence in Hardin County, the first also being built by Major Helm.  It featured brickwork laid in the Flemish bond pattern with hand-stenciled mortar signifying affluence and has 16” brick walls that rest upon an 18” thick stone foundation.  Many changes to the property and home took place over the century of the Terry family ownership, including the removal of the kitchen house, slave quarters, and two wings on either side of the house and the addition of the stately front porch and an attached kitchen. Beginning in _____, much of the downtown Elizabethtown residential neighborhood was created on the acreage of the Helm estate, and The House on Helm welcomed its first neighbors onto her lawn.  In 198_, the home was added to the National Register of Historic Places.   

In 2019 construction began to fully restore and transform The House on Helm into Central Kentucky’s most unique historic event venue, as well as a forever home for the family who fell in love with her splendor and charm.  The exterior façade pays homage to its original establishment while the interior reflects an updated canvas that marries elegant and eclectic into a sophisticated palette that welcomes and interacts with guests.