Construction of the stone mansion Mac-A-Cheek began in 1864 for General Abram Sanders Piatt and was finished in 1871, replacing an earlier frame house where he had lived with his first wife Hannah and their children before her death in 1861 and his service in the Civil War. The new castle-like dwelling was occupied by Abram, his second wife Eleanor, his younger children, domestic workers, and farm laborers. More than a home, Mac-A-Cheek served as the hub of an industrial, commercial, and agricultural complex of over 1,000 acres that included tenant farms, merchant and custom mills, and metal working shops. Like farmhouses of its day, it was also a processing center for butter, cheese, meat, vegetables, and fruit, with a large basement kitchen beside storage rooms holding produce for family use. After Abram's death, his son William and William's wife Julia moved into Mac-A-Cheek and supplemented their income by opening the house to tourists. The house and its surrounding 80 acres remain in the ownership of members of the Piatt family, who continue to regard it as home.
