The original log house (artist's rendering) that was the boyhood home of Meriwether Lewis was built early in the 1760s on the nearly 2000 acres that make up plantation known as Locust Hill. This structure was a single room with loft space above and was lost to fire in 1837. The name comes from the locust trees that are found on the property even to this day. Lucy Meriwether gave birth to Jane Meriwether Anderson, Meriwether Lewis, Lucinda Lewis (who died in childhood) and Reuben Lewis while married to William Lewis. Colonel William Lewis, who served on the continental line of the Revolutionary Army, in died in 1779 after catching pneumonia on his way home from the army to visit his wife and children. He fell ill after falling from his horse attempting to ford a flooded river.

Lucy married Captain John Marks, a friend of both William Lewis and Thomas Jefferson, who was forced to leave the military for health-related reasons. They had two children: John Hastings Marks and Mary Garland Marks. Some time after the Revolution ended Captain Marks moved his entire family to Broad River Valley, Georgia as part of the new settlement Goosepond Community created by General George Mathews. At this time Georgia was considered more of a frontier territory than Albemarle County, Virginia.