This was the home of Levi Vernon Woodlee, an important political figure in Grundy County. Woodlee served in the Tennessee General Assembly as a Representative between 1897 and 1899 and as a Senator between 1905 and 1907. In addition to serving in the state legislature, Woodlee was a practicing lawyer in Grundy County. He used the north room in the rear portion of the older section of the house as his law office.

Woodlee was a member of the Grundy County Board of Education for thirty years and served as Superintendent of Schools in Grundy County between his terms in the state legislature from 1899 to 1905. Woodlee was also a member of the Board of Directors of the First National Bank of Tracy City for twenty-four years, attorney and vice-president of the Cumberland Mountain Bank in Altamont, and was legal representative for the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railroad and the Tennessee Consolidated Coal Company. He also held several county offices in addition to superintendent of schools; county attorney, 1893, chairman of the county board of election commissioners, legal advisor and appeals agent for the county draft board during World War I, and back tax attorney for his district.

The house was built in two parts. The original structure is a log building built in the late 1800s. The front addition was built in 1904 and is an excellent example of the federalist style architecture that was popular at the time. The home was purchased in the 1980s by attorney Earlene Speer, who had it added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.