In 1826, Charles Foster brought his wife, four sons and four daughters to the Genesee Country in a horse-drawn vehicle. According to family tradition, two of the children rode in the potash kettle. The kettle would indicate that Foster expected to be clearing land. That the 58 acres he eventually purchased were on a hill would suggest that a better site was unavailable or beyond his means.

Foster's first house in Genesee County was of logs. When in 1836 he was able to put up a frame house, the result was surprisingly sophisticated, without any known local precedent. His one-and-a-half story house carries post-Colonial (Federal) detailing on the exterior, while the widely overhanging roof and the interior trim point to the newer Greek Revival style. Such a combination of modes is often the result of an owner's reluctance to cast off all familiar forms and his tentative acceptance of the new.

The house's entrance is of special interest. Fluted pilasters extend to the frieze, framing not only the front doorway but the window above. These two elements are separated by a projecting shelf with egg-and-dart molding. Inside, a bridge-like landing above the entrance hall and behind the window receives the delicately detailed stairway and provides access to the upper bedrooms on both sides of the house. This landing, floating free from the front wall, permits light from the window above the front door to reach the entrance hall below.

One of the Foster daughters married Ely Tufts; ultimately, three generations of Tufts occupied the house before it was turned over to secondary usages. The house was in precarious shape when the museum acquired it. It had served as a chicken house for some time, and had lost its kitchen and woodshed wing to the elements. In its restored state, the house appears very much as it did when new in 1836.

A quilter works daily in this house throughout the season.