To construct the two-story stone house, Sloan and his wife hired laborers to quarry the native fieldstone and lay the stonework. Richard and Charlotte Sloan had ten children together (four girls and six boys), and the large house afforded the couple sufficient room to raise them. The house also provided the family with the necessary space to engage in the manufacture of woven goods. Sloan was a fabric weaver by trade, and he and his family developed a thriving weaving industry on their lands in the Mill Creek valley. Their entire production process was initially accomplished inside the house until Sloan erected a separate loom house. There, he and his sons built and operated six looms. On their farm, Sloan and his family raised their own sheep and grew flax; they also sourced flax and raw wool from local residents. The majority of the Sloan family's woven products were sold locally, and their Sloan counterpanes became well known in the South Branch Valley region. The family's trade in woolen goods and linens thrived until the middle of the 19thcentury. The present Parker family occupants of the Sloan–Parker House retain several woven coverlets produced by the Sloans.