In its present configuration, it has eight substantial rooms on the first floor surrounding a central passage, with a full attic above and English basement with windows below.

The Scotchtown property was given as a land grant to Charles Chiswell, a prominent planter and iron mine owner, in 1717.

The house was purchased by the Wilson Miles Cary family after their original home had been taken over as a small-pox rest camp.

The house and land were transferred to Benjamin Forsythe in Hanover County's 1787 tax records, but Cary is charged once more in 1792.

An ad in a 1794 Richmond paper announces, "Scotch-Town Grammar School will be conducted the present year by Peter and Thomas Nelson.

[6] Sheppard divided the land between his children, leaving his daughters Lavinia and Sally Taylor the house and a few acres.

A number of projects have restored the house to its late 18th-century appearance, including rebuilding outbuildings such as the icehouse, kitchen, and law office.

[1][4] The property received a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services in 1993 to "reexamine its policies, procedures, and the current condition of its collection and structures,"[6] including restructuring its programming.