Like Nicholas Hetchler, whose one-story log cabin anchors the Pioneer Farmstead, Martin Kieffer moved from a settled area of southern Pennsylvania to carve a farm out of the Genesee Country wilderness. And like Hetchler, he built his dwelling of logs, using the same dovetail-like joints favored by the Pennsylvania Germans. But Kieffer's Place is a house, not a cabin. It contains eight rooms, its regularly spaced window and door openings form a symmetrical facade, and an enclosed stairway opposite the front entrance leads to the second floor.

At an early date, lath and plaster were applied to the exposed beams of the ceilings, the interior of the log walls and the first floor beaded partitions. At about the same time, the exterior of the log walls was covered with clapboards, accounting for the present excellent condition of the squared timbers. Since they disguised the early condition and character of the building, all these improvements were removed during the restoration process.

Kieffer's c.1814 two-story log house was located near Honeoye Creek in the Town of Rush in Monroe County and lay in the path of the Genesee Expressway (now Interstate 390) during its construction. The New York State Department of Transportation, recognizing the structure's rarity, made it available to the museum in 1974.