The 662-acre pre-American Revolutionary War property was in the possession of Thomas Young (1733–1808) from about 1758.

The executors of Young's estate sold Kilkenny to Charles Rogers of Savannah and Sapelo Island on January 21, 1836.

A Union gunboat shelled the property from the Bear River during the U.S. Civil War.

[2] Kilkenny plantation was purchased by James M. Butler in 1874; it was then acquired by James H. Furber in January 1890 and became home to the Kilkenny Club, a seven-member consortium who took over the plantation and its house to host summer fishing vacations.

It was later restored as a private home following Henry Ford's acquisition of the property in 1930.