The 264-acre site includes the Sandburg residence, the goat farm, sheds, rolling pastures, mountainside woods, 5 miles (8 km) of hiking trails on moderate to steep terrain, two small lakes, several ponds, flower and vegetable gardens, and an apple orchard.

In the middle 1830s Christopher Memminger, of Charleston, South Carolina, took a tour of Flat Rock in an attempt to find a summer home.

[4] Memminger called his summer home “Rock Hill,” possibly because the main house was constructed on the gradual slope of Big Glassy Mountain.

During the war, the house was fortified and used as a shelter for friends who needed protection from raids by Union soldiers and Confederate deserters turned bandits.

The Greggs used Rock Hill as their summer home for about ten years before they sold it in 1900 to Captain Ellison Adger Smyth.

In addition, more than 42,000 lb (19,000 kg) of personal belongings, primarily Sandburg's library, were sent by train from their old house in Harbert, Michigan.

The Secretary of Interior and family friend Stewart Udall visited the house in October 1967, and Mrs. Sandburg signed a deed of gift in June of the following year.

The National Park Service restored the house and installed Plexiglas covers over the bookcases during the time between the purchase and its opening.

[12] The Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008, supported by North Carolina's congressional delegation, authorized the expansion of the site by 115 acres (0.47 km2) to protect the scenic view, create additional parking, and establish a visitor center.

This program offers emerging writers an opportunity to live and work at the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site for three weeks during April.