At age 19, Abraham Chapline was the youngest of the original settlers to accompany James Harrod to Kentucky. This was the site of his 1400-acre settlement and preemption. He married Elizabeth Higgins in 1793, and their restored pioneer cemetery is nearby. The present house, an exquisitely detailed late Victorian mansion, was built circa 1900 by Rufus Henry Vanarsdall, who was of Low Dutch descent.