The John Mark Verdier House was once the residence of John Mark Verdier I, a local merchant and planter, and father of Dr. James Robert Verdier, the physician who discovered a cure for yellow fever. The property was built in 1795. It is also known as the Lafayette Building, mostly because it also served as the Lafayette Tavern for a time.

There are quite a number of remarkable things that took place in the John Verdier House. First of which is that the first telephone in Beaufort was installed in this building. It was also graced by the presence of the infamous Marquis de Lafayette in 1825.

The John Mark Verdier House currently operates as a historic house museum under the care of the Historic Beaufort Foundation.