Thomas Marshall, the father of future Chief Justice John Marshall, built Oak Hill about 1773 and moved his family there from their nearby former home, The Hollow. John Marshall lived at Oak Hill for two years until he entered the Continental army in 1775 at age twenty. He became the property's owner in 1785 when his father moved to Kentucky. Although Marshall lived mostly in Washington, D.C. and Richmond, he improved Oak Hill and used it as a retreat. In 1819, his son Thomas constructed an attached Classical Revival dwelling.