William Henry Harrison Ross, Delaware's 27th and youngest governor from 1851 to 1855, began construction of this Italian Villa style house after his term as governor. The structure evolved from the original brick two-story Federal style house built by the John Tennent family, who purchased the land about 1776 and sold it to Ross's father in 1836; a wooden section of the original structure remains at the back right corner. Governor and Mrs. Ross celebrated the completion of their home with a house warming party in October 1860. Ross was instrumental in extending the railroad from Dover to Seaford and used the economic opportunity to ship goods to the city, since the rails passed through the middle of his 1398 acres, where a small whistle-stop railroad station was constructed across from his house. The Italian Villa style features a three-story tower that promoted air circulation throughout the house, arched windows and doors, and decorative brackets under the eaves. The interior of the thirteen-room house includes many Ross family furnishings and memorabilia, other Victorian period furniture, artwork, wall coverings, lighting, interior wooden shutters, original detailed engraved ceiling moldings and medallions, and personal objects interpreting everyday 19th-century life. The Seaford Historical Society owns and maintains 20 acres of the original plantation.