The main block of the house, a 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, was built c. 1790 by Joseph Briggs, and the property was purchased from his heirs in 1851 by the town for use as a poor farm.

The property is one of the few such poor farms to remain relatively intact.

The farm was closed in the 1930s, after which the property fell into decline.

[2] The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.

This article about a Registered Historic Place in Kent County, Rhode Island is a stub.