Washington H. McGaughy and his wife Nancy Prentice Wynn lived in the original dogtrot homestead built by the Perry family on a 120-acre farm that had formerly been part of the Perry Plantation. After Perry Hall was completed in 1836, the house became the home of the Perrys' overseer, Washington H. McGaughy, who worked for the Perry family until his death in 1877. McGaughy Farms remained in the McGaughy family for five generations and is also an Alabama Century and Heritage Farm, listed in the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on February 15, 1977.