The house was built circa 1790 for Absalom Scales, a settler from North Carolina,[2] and his wife Nancy Dalton, whose paternal grandfather, Samuel Dalton Sr., was a British immigrant and personal friend of U.S. President James Madison.[3] In 1835, it was inherited by their son Noah, who lived here with his wife, Mary Batie Sayers, and their four children.[3]
During the American Civil War of 1861–1865, Noah's daughter Mary stayed in the house with her husband, John Knox Womack, who was a Free Will Baptist preacher whose uncle was Confederate General A. P. Hill.[3] At the same time, Womack joined the Confederate States Army and served under General Nathan Bedford Forrest.[3] After the war, Womack resumed his ministry.[3] After his wife died, he married her sister Charlotte, with whom he had six children.[3] The house was later inherited by his daughter Nancy and her husband, Joseph A. Johnston.[3]
