The handmade brick residence was built 1816-1820 by Colonel James King on the highest point of his property overlooking his meadows where he raised cattle.

In 1991, the Bristol Historical Association initiated a study concerning the oldest section of the home which is the remainder of Colonel James King's original dwelling.

This fact is verified by an elaborate map of Washington County drawn by John Wood in 1820 in which the site of Bristol is marked with a small square, and the legend “Colonel James King’s brick house”.

Analysis by the Department of Historic Resources in Richmond, Virginia, revealed that the original structure consisted of a two-room plan, divided by a central winding staircase leading to two bedrooms upstairs.

The addition completed an ingenious composition by connecting an identical two-story gabled façade1820 structure with a flat roofed “hyphen” which housed the bathroom above and formal entry hall below.

She put him in what is now the dining room, and later when he became wealthy, he confessed that on the first night he spent there that he vowed he would someday own the grand house on the hill overlooking the town.