This house, built in 1801, is the oldest structure at Erie Canal Village and was move here in 1978. It was part of a form house built for Rufus Barnes, a tanner who moved to the area in 1795 and settled on Pennystreet Road in Wright’s Settlement, North of Rome. According to some accounts, he built a log cabin near his tannery on the Mohawk River He married Anna Frisbee in 1797 and this house was probably built to replace the cabin as his family grew and his business prospered It looks much as it did when it was built, including the color.
The Federal-style house with New England influences would have been home for five or six people. This was typical of an early farmhouse built in this portion of New York around 1800. Houses such as this one are commonly found in many canal towns, of the late 1700s and early 1800s.
The house has two large fireplaces attached to a central chimney. One heated the parlor, while the other was used for cooking and heat in the kitchen. Before 1800, many of the daily chores including food preparation would have been done in the kitchen, outside, or in a separate building. About this time, however, many of these tasks were beginning to be done indoors, as represented by the small workroom, sometimes known as the buttery or milk room, located to the right of the fireplace in the kitchen.
