The Alston-Cobb House, built on this site in 1854 by Lemuel Lovett Alston for his new wife, Sarah French Jackson, is an example of plantation plain-style architecture, also called an "I" house because of its narrow profile. It has a simple gable roof, masonry chimneys on each end, high-ceilinged rooms that allowed heat to rise before modern air conditioning, and a detached kitchen, a common feature of plantation plain-style homes because cooking over large fires kept summer heat out of the main house and reduced the risk that a kitchen fire would destroy the dwelling. Alston, a physician and early postmaster, and his wife lived there until 1867, when they moved to Dallas County. The house later passed through the Bettis, Cobb, and Bumpers families. By the 1980s it had fallen into disrepair and was scheduled for demolition to make way for a car lot, but the Clarke County Historical Society purchased it in 1980, raised funds for restoration, and opened it to the public as the Clarke County Historical Museum in 1984.