Built circa 1796 for Major Lea and Lavinia Jarnagin Lea, the brick house on this land is one of the oldest in Grainger County. The ninth Lea child, Albert Miller Lea, was born here in 1808. Lea assisted in two major land surveys in Tennessee and present-day Iowa. In 1841 he served as Chief Clerk for the U.S. Secretary of War John Buell. The land called Richland, so named for the creek that runs past, is some of the earliest land deeded in the county.