It is the oldest house in Walton and is built in the Federal Style, featuring three stairways and ten carved mantels.

Gaines then began the first stagecoach line between Cincinnati, Ohio and Lexington, Kentucky.

Local historians speculate that slaves owned by Gaines worked as skilled craftsmen to build the 17-room, 2+1⁄2-story main house.

The house remained in the Gaines family for four generations and was sold after the Civil War.

In 1897, a newspaper article discusses whether to raze the property, but it was repaired by subsequent owners and used as an antiques shop from 1930s until 1997.