The wood-framed house has a two-story square-columned portico on the east elevation, with a Chippendale-styled [1] balustrade on the second level spanning three of five bays.

The springhouse itself is constructed of ashlar stone masonry, with a projecting portico supported by square columns.

The lowest level of the barn features unusually fine stone masonry, with a stone-arched opening leading out of the stone-walled barnyard.

[2] The Wild Goose property was subdivided from a larger tract in the early 19th century, when John Stipp sold 121 acres (49 ha) to his son George.

Rezin Davis Shepherd was the eldest son of Abraham, who had spent much of his life as a merchant in New Orleans.

Rezin moved back to West Virginia in the early 1840s, having bought Charles's assets, including land, livestock and slaves.

The estate reached about 700 acres (280 ha) in size by the time Rezin Shepherd entered retirement at Wild Goose, around 1850.

When McLean became involved in movies in the 20th century, he sold the 185-acre (75 ha) core of Wild Goose to Edwin S. Jarrett for $36,000 in 1911.

During Jarrett's ownership, he added Colonial Revival features to the house and raised the roof of the east wing to furnish a third floor, adding the colonnaded porch and opening the lower level of the east wing into a single ballroom.

It was consistently used as a country retreat by successive owners, including NASA engineer Robert Moss [2] during the 1960s, and by West Virginia governor Gaston Caperton from 1998.