Charles Follen McKim once pronounced the home to be the finest example of colonial architecture in the United States.

He assembled one of the best libraries in colonial America, discovered the vital role of pollen in the fertilization of corn (an achievement that caused Linnaeus to consider him "among the demigods of science"), and amassed a fortune in the fur trade.

After William's death in 1776,[4] Stenton was inherited by his son, George Logan (1753–1821), a physician and later U.S. senator.

George Logan married Deborah Norris (1761–1839), a noted diarist and historian for whom Sally Wister's Journal was written in 1781.

[6] The house is considered one of the nation's best still-standing examples of 18th century American Georgian architecture.