Visitors often stop their cars and take a quiet moment to enjoy this old home sitting serenely on its hill. From the front, it seems to be three houses made into one and the interior cross hall would seem to strengthen this impression.

The House was probably begun around 1818 by William Dearing (the little town of Dearing, GA is named for him), then it was bought by Osborne Stone, an early citizen of Wilkes who dealt extensively in real estate.

In 1853, James DuBose induced his kinsman, Robert Motte Smith of South Carolina, to accept a tract of land and move to Washington. A dense pine thicket had grown up around the original cottage on this site and this was cleared for the building of The Pines, as the Smith house was called. Family records show that on February 23, 1857, a consecration service was held to dedicate this house.