One of the oldest houses in Perry County, Tennessee, the James Dickson House, built in 1819, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

According to local history, the first county court of Perry County met here the first Monday in January 1820, following the creation of the county by the Tennessee General Assembly late in 1819. This house was supposedly chosen as being the only house with glass windows at the time. Other accounts state the first court met at the home of a local lawyer Barry on Tom's Creek, later the N.S. Horner Place. However, James Dickson was one of the first magistrates of the newly created county.

At the time the county was first formed, it included land on both the east and west sides of the Tennessee River, most of what is now Decatur County on the western bank. The court considered the Dickson House too remote so moved the county seat to what is now known as Perryville, an unincorporated area in Decatur County, on the Tennessee River, where it remained until 1846.

The house was acquired by the Ledbetter family, whose daughter Minerva married Jessie Sparks and lived there until her death in 1942. The property, still in family hands, became a retreat and fishing camp. It is now a private residence.

All of the outbuildings, inclduing a smokehouse, small barn, corncrib, all included in the nomination for Historic Places, were sold and removed or deemed irrepairable.