Seeking economic opportunities in sparsely-settled Pike County, Shastid and his family moved to Pittsfield in 1836; at the time, the city had only six other houses.

Shastid worked as a farmer and eventually held public office, serving as Pike County Sheriff for eight years.

[2] According to John Shastid's grandson Thomas, Abraham Lincoln visited the house while conducting legal work in Pittsfield.

The house is built from squared beams connected by mortise and tenon joints, the characteristic method of timber-frame construction; the style differs from both log cabins, which used rounded logs, and balloon framing, which typically used nails and smaller beams.

The beams were hewn rather than sawn, an unusual technique that likely resulted from Pittsfield's lack of a sawmill in 1838.