[1] The Mathews House stands on the north side of NY/VT Route 67, just west of State Line Road in southwestern Shaftsbury and northeast of Walloomsac, New York.

As built, its main facade was originally to the north, but it has essentially identical northern and southern entrances, set in round-arch openings with fanlights above and flanking sidelights.

[2] The house was built about 1800 by David Mathews, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War, and has a significant number of unusual high-style Federal period features for what was then (and is still now) a fairly remote rural setting.

He has often been confused with Loyalist David Mathews who served as Mayor under the British and had owned property nearby which was subsequently seized.

Its position on the state line, it was said, made it impossible for a New York judge to convict a defendant on the Vermont side of the house.