The family patriarch, John Black, was an agent for a major landowner in the region, and built the mansion house in 1824–27.

There are over two miles of hiking trails, a nationally sanctioned croquet court, gardens, fields, and forest open to the public all year.

[1] Philadelphia businessman William Bingham purchased a very large tract of land in Maine not long after the American Revolutionary War, and sold half of it in 1792 to an English company.

[2][3] Behind the main house is an attached Ell that was used for cooking and housework, then became home to the resident caretakers.

The barn events venue will be open year-round and will be available for rent as well as serving as the archival storage facility and educational programming.