The Wheeler House was occupied by John Wheeler and his family from approximately 1814 to 1867. The Wheelers were one of the foremost literary families of nineteenth century North Carolina. Today the restored house museum serves as a fitting memorial to the cumulative contribution made by members of the Wheeler family to the study and popularization of the history of North Carolina.

Although originally constructed, ca 1810, as a store belonging to William Hardy Murfree and his business partner George Gordon, John Wheeler purchased the building just four years later and turned it into a residence.

Between his purchase of the building and its lot in 1814, and his death in 1832, John Wheeler added considerably to it by the purchase of adjacent fields and the construction of numerous dependencies. These included slave quarters, stables, a pig pen, cow stall, corn crib, carriage house, and a smoke house. A tool house, grape arbor, garden walks, and a “white brick house” are also mentioned as having being part of the complex. The house was purchased in 1970 by Mrs. Charles Lee Smith, Jr. and donated to the Murfreesboro Historical Association.

The John Wheeler house has today been meticulously refurbished as a house museum based on an inventory of 1832-33.