The house's floor plan in the shape of a Greek cross, with four equal wings extending from an octagonal core, is based on a published design by William H. Ranlett, The Architect (New York) 1847, Vol.

[4][5] The house is an "Anglo-Grecian Villa", built in the shape of a Greek cross between 1853 and 1855 by Peter and Columbia Stuart[6] Hairston.

The builder Peter Wilson Hairston[7] a white Superior Court judge in North Carolina, who had inherited Cooleemee from his grandfather, was a central figure in Henry Wiencek's telling of the family's story.

[8] Cooleemee Plantation was founded by Colonel Jesse A. Pearson who took part in the capture of approximately 600 tribal Creek Indians during the War of 1812.

In 1817, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War and four-time state legislator, Peter Hairston, purchased the 2,500-acre (10 km2) Cooleemee Hill Plantation for $8 per acre – $20,000 total.