It was the main house of a rice plantation and the birthplace of Thomas Lynch, Jr., a Founding Father who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Lynch had been struggling with illness in 1779 and planned a trip with his wife to St. Eustatius in the West Indies for respite.

He made a will before departure, stipulating that heirs of his female relatives (he had three sisters) would have to change their surname to Lynch in order to inherit his estate, known as Peachtree Plantation.

Lynch owned two other plantations and held more than 250 enslaved African Americans, who were counted as property.

after the War of 1812; plantation house, showing West Indian influence, with its double-tiered piazza and dormered hip roof.