The grave house is a limestone and wood structure that covers the burial site of local farmer Pinckney Hufstedler and members of his family.

It was originally built as a graveyard for about 10 to 12 burials, surrounded by a wall of cut stone almost 5 feet (1.5 m) high.

Wooden walls and a roof were added because of Pinckney Hufstedler's fears that water could get into his tomb.

[3] Hufstedler also asked that his body be transported to the burial site in a wagon drawn by white oxen, rather than mules.

[1] In 2009, the Tennessee Preservation Trust listed it as one of the state's ten most endangered historic sites, noting that the foundation was beginning to fail.