Containers have always been a necessity in households. They were a matter of survival to the settlers. On the farm, baskets were handy for light, dry and loose things; earthenware jugs and crocks were fine for liquids; iron kettles contained the simmering stews and soups, heating milk and boiling ashes.

But wooden vessels of various forms, sizes and capacities were required where nothing else would do — or do as well — in the country and the town. Wooden buckets drew water from the well to the kitchen and barn. They were used to carry feed to the calves and milk back to the kitchen, and to collect and carry sap from maple trees. There were wooden wash tubs, butter churns and butter firkins. Without some or most of these wooden wares, the farmer-settler and his wife were inconvenienced.

There were not quite as many demands for wooden containers around the village homes, but flour, sugar and salt were kept in them, and every well had its wooden bucket. The storekeeper received flour, fish, rum, molasses and pork by the barrel. Barrels traveled in the other direction carrying apples, cider and vinegar. The Altay Store shipped butter and eggs to Elmira and New York City in wooden barrels.

The Cooper made and supplied thses round wooden containers. Some farmers did a little coopering during the winter, turning out barrels, tubs and buckets. Others made only the staves that could be used for barter, or, even better, sold for vitally needed cash. Barrel staves were one of the most important exports from the Genesee Country to Canada in the early 19th century.

As the economy and trade of a settlement grew, there was work for the full-time cooper. The "tight" cooper made barrels for cider, vinegar, whiskey, beer and meat. The "slack" cooper, less expert, made barrels that did not need to be watertight. The cooper "rived" (split) the staves from pine or oak blocks, beveled and jointed them to fit together, shaped the bottom to fit the "chine" (groove left to receive the bottom), and banded the whole affair together with hoop poles of hickory or oak. It was not easy work.

Sometime around 1805, William Rumsey built this structure along the Ontario and Western Turnpike in what is now the Town of Stafford, N.Y. Rumsey was a surveyor for the Holland Land Company and, until his death in 1820, he was one of the most influential settlers of the area. This unusually sturdy construction is of special interest, the hand-hewn members being formed into trusses. Because of the unique character of the framework, portions have been left exposed. The building is presently used to exhibit the tools and equipment of the village cooper.