The house was built in 1815 for Joseph Washington, his wife Mary née Cheatham, and their infant son
George Augustine Washington (1815-1892). Washington, who, was the second cousin of George Washington, President of the United States developed it as a tobacco plantation, and his son continued to operate it for that commodity crop. George served in the
Tennessee General Assembly from 1873 to 1875. His son
Joseph E. Washington followed him into politics, serving in the
United States House of Representatives from 1887 to 1897. In the 1890s, Joseph Washington and his wife commissioned portraits of some of their servants from noted artist
Maria Howard Weeden of Huntsville, Alabama. After Joseph's death, his widow Mary Bolling Kemp Washington owned the plantation from 1915 to 1938. After her death, it passed to their three children. The Washingtons grew tobacco on the plantation, which was known as the largest tobacco plantation in the United States. In 1976, it was recognized as a
Century Farm. ==Architectural significance==