Samuel Cobbs (who had represented nearby Amelia County in the House of Burgesses in 1747) in 1758 willed his 1,000-acre (400 ha) acre estate to his brothers Edmund and John.

Nicholas Hamner Cobbs taught school at the New London Academy in Bedford County for several years as well as became an Episcopal priest in 1825 and received 38 acres from his father in law in 1828.

He founded several Episcopal congregations in Bedford County and nearby areas before accepting a position in Petersburg, and then became bishop of Alabama in 1844.

However, the family did not lose the real estate until World War I, possibly because neighbors were in similarly difficult circumstances and fellow Episcopalian and lawyer Martin Parks Burks had set up a trust and was commissioner of accounts.

[6] The house was extensively renovated in 1932, after its purchase by John Capron, a colonial history enthusiast who renamed it "Locust Hill".