Preston Place is the oldest home in Salem and one of the earliest in the Roanoke Valley. A local blacksmith, John Cole, built a cabin on this site in the 1790s and opened his home to travelers passing through Salem along the Great Road from Pennsylvania to Tennessee, including Davy Crockett and Louis Philippe, the future king of France. In 1820, Cole sold the property to John Johnston, who built the present home and reused materials from Cole's cabin, including exposed beams still visible throughout the structure. Johnston's 1821 house had two rooms below and two above and was an early Federal-style home with Flemish-bond brickwork, gauged brick jack arches, and a corbelled brick cornice. The Johnston family lived here until 1879, when Charles Isaac Preston, a farmer, Confederate war veteran, and Salem town sheriff, bought the property for $600. After his death, the property passed down through the family to Dr. Esther Clark Brown, Salem's first female physician, who recognized its importance. After her death in 2010, her family donated the property to the Salem Museum and Historical Society. A one-and-half story rear brick ell and indoor kitchen were added in the mid-1800s and enlarged in 1946, while other outbuildings, including a kitchen, smokehouse, and corn crib, were lost over time. A well remains in the backyard by a massive Osage Orange tree, and the house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register.