The site was the home of John Sevier (1745–1815)—a Revolutionary War and frontier militia commander and later the first governor of Tennessee—from 1790 until his death in 1815.

The site is managed for the Tennessee Historical Commission by the Governor John Sevier Memorial Association.

The area is drained by Stock Creek, which empties into the Fort Loudoun Lake impoundment of the Tennessee River roughly 10 miles (16 km) to the west.

[1] Sevier officially obtained the Marble Springs area in 1796, although he was living there as early as 1790 (the site was within a days' journey of Knoxville, which at the time served as capital of the Southwest Territory).

Dardis leased the property to the family of George Kirby, who was living at Marble Springs in 1840.

The cabin's likely builder was George Kirby, who lived as a tenant at Marble Springs during this period.

[2] Along with Sevier's cabin, several outbuildings have been added to Marble Springs to give visitors an idea of life on an 18th-century Tennessee Valley farm.

This building was moved intact from a farm just off Walker Springs Road in Knox County.

This building was donated by the McCall family, whose farm lay a few miles south of Marble Springs.