Waverly attorney Hugh McAdoo built the McAdoo House circa 1878 while serving as Speaker of the Tennessee State Senate after his first election in 1877 and after four years in the House of Representatives. In 1883 McAdoo sold the house to Peter Pickard, who served as State Comptroller for six years beginning in 1883. In later years the house had several owners. A notable example of late Victorian Italianate architecture, it features foot-thick solid brick walls. In 1991 the McAdoo House was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.