The property on which the current 19th century farmhouse sits was part of a 7,500 acre tract received by William Penn in 1717 through his rights as a proprietor in West Jersey. Elias Boudinot purchased the property in 1771. He was a Colonel in the Continental Army and in 1782 was elected President of the Continental Congress, and he is credited with signing the Preliminary Articles of Peace Between Great Britain and the United States of America, the precursor to the Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War. He later served in the U.S. House of Representatives and as Director of the United States Mint. Henry Southard, who served in Congress from 1801 to 1821, purchased the property from Boudinot in 1785. His son, Samuel L. Southard, was born on the property in 1787. Samuel Southard went on to serve as a U.S. Senator, Secretary of the Navy, Governor of New Jersey, and acting Vice-President of the United States under President Tyler.