A two-story, saddlebag log house with V, or steeple, notching, this is the earliest building in the area and one of the least altered houses of its type in the state. Huge stone fireplaces with stone hearths form the interior walls of the two first-story rooms. Later, a board-and-batten, shed-roofed addition was built against the rear elevation.
While others were fighting the Revolution, Levi Shinn, a Quaker pacifist originally from New Jersey, was building his house. He acquired extensive property in the area and established one of the first gristmills. In 1819 the town that took his family's name was platted to the north of the house on land he formerly owned. The Shinnston Historical Association acquired the house in 1972 and restored it with assistance from the West Virginia American Bicentennial Commission. It is open as a museum in summer months.