The Nathan Lester House is located in a rural setting east of the village of Gales Ferry, on the east side of Vinegar Hill Road at its junction with Long Cove Road. The property is mostly wooded, with a long drive providing access to the farmstead. The main house is a two and ½ story wood-frame structure, five bays wide, with a side-gable roof, clapboard siding, and a large central chimney. The interior follows a typical central chimney plan, with a narrow entry vestibule that has a winding staircase and parlors to either side of the chimney. The kitchen (keeping room) extends across much of the rear, with a large fireplace and beehive bake oven. Small chambers at the corners may have served as the farm ‘study’, pantry, and borning room originally.

The house was built in 1793 by Nathan Lester on land that had been purchased by his grandfather Peter. It is one of a small number of 18th-century houses in the town. The property historically included a site where once stood the Ledyard Oak. The tree was believed to be over 400 years old and was a local landmark to native and colonial people alike. The property remained in the Lester and Larrabee family until 1880. The history of the property between that sale and the purchase by the Graves family is murky. Dr. Charles Graves purchased the house in 1908, beginning a restoration that accounts for the survival of much of the original details. Their daughter, Elizabeth Graves Hill, and her husband Norbert Hill raised their family there and in 1967 sold the farm to the Town of Ledyard through the Open Space Program.

The Nathan Lester House and Farm Tool Museum represents a unique partnership between the Town of Ledyard and the Ledyard Historical Society. The buildings and grounds are owned and maintained by the Historic District Commission while the collection of furnishings, textiles, looms, tools, paintings, and vehicles belong to the Historical Society.