The property is nationally notable as the home for many years of author William Gilmore Simms (1806-1870), considered one of the leading literary voices of the antebellum Southern United States, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1971.

The main estate house is a two-story structure, brick on the first floor and wood frame on the second.

Its main facade is five bays across, with asymmetrical window and door placement.

[3] The estate was already of some age when William Gilmore Simms inherited it from his in-laws in 1836.

The main estate house was rebuilt several times, once after a fire, and again after its destruction by Union Army forces late in the American Civil War.