Absalom Pratt built this house about 8 miles west of here circa 1835, though one section was constructed earlier. Born in Stokes County, North Carolina, he settled in River Bend with his brothers Hopkins, Joab, and John between 1816 and 1818, and his parents Richard and Rebecca Pratt soon followed. In 1822, Absalom married Mary Dickerson, and they had 12 children. Their son Richard Hopkins Pratt became principal of Six Mile Academy and Bibb County Superintendent of Education. Absalom was appointed colonel of militia in 1841 and served as clerk of Schultz Creek Baptist Church from 1840 to 1844. He died of typhoid fever in 1845 and was buried in the Pratt-Wallace cemetery, while Mary lived until 1882. According to tradition, she operated a Cahaba River ferry and, rather than allow Union troopers under General James H. Wilson to use it, set the ferry adrift in April 1865. The last family members born in the house were Absalom’s great-grandsons Leonard Callaway, Jr., Francis David, and Clarence William Pratt, all of whom served in World War II, and Francis David Pratt was the last family member to live in the house in the 1980s. The house was moved to this site in 1994 by the Cahaba Trace Commission, restored by the Alabama Historic Ironworks Commission in 1997-98, and dedicated by both organizations on November 15, 1998.