In 1847, Nat Cheairs purchased nearly 500 acres of land along Columbia Turpike, and that same year construction began on a smokehouse and a two-story interim brick home that was later converted into a kitchen. By 1851 or 1852, the main house was completed in the Greek-Revival style, with enslaved Africans serving as the primary labor force for the entire multi-year project, and as the estate expanded, slave quarters were built northeast of the main house about 200-300 yards away. During the American Civil War, the house briefly served as the headquarters of U.S. Gen. William "Bull" Nelson as he moved toward Shiloh in late March 1862. As John Bell Hood's Tennessee Campaign moved through Middle Tennessee, the Battle of Spring Hill unfolded near the house late on November 29, 1864, and during the night the Federal army under Gen. John M. Schofield marched north along the turnpike and escaped to Franklin, roughly 15 miles away. The following morning Hood and Gen. Benjamin F. Cheatham met in or near the house in a short and terse meeting, after which the Confederate army began a desperate pursuit that culminated in the devastating Battle of Franklin later that same day. After the war, the Cheairs family lived there for nearly half a century, Nat sold the property to his son Will in 1894, and by 1920 the home had been sold out of the family.