Ridgefield began as a small Creole cottage at the center of a large plantation adjoining the town of Thibodaux and was enlarged after George Seth Guion, an early Thibodaux landowner, acquired it in 1834. Its side and rear galleries were enclosed, and Greek Revival wings were added on either side and at the rear to accommodate Guion's large family. Henry Clay is said to have dined there while campaigning for the presidency in 1844. The home later passed to Guion's son-in-law, Confederate Brigadier-general Francis T. Nicholls, who after the war served twice as governor of Louisiana and as Chief Justice and Associate Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, then lived at Ridgefield until his death. His widow and several of his children continued to occupy the home, which was featured in New Orleans Spring Fiesta tours during the 1930's. A fire heavily damaged the house in 1940, but two of Nicholls' daughters, Josephine Hamilton Nicholls and Virginia Nicholls Young, rebuilt it exactly as it had been on its original foundations six months later. After passing through several owners, including the Nicholls State College Alumni Federation, Ridgefield returned to the family in 1999 when Robert M. Pugh, a great-great-grandson of Josephine Williamina Nicholls Pugh, purchased it.