Historic Paint Colors Make Their Debut On Foster-Tufts & The Jones Farm

Foster-Tufts New Look

This year we are making great strides in returning some of our buildings to their original and authentic paint colors.

Wonder how we determine what colors to use on the buildings?

Steve Jordan, our conservation specialist and historic paint expert takes small pieces from the houses where paint would have accumulated over time and then studies the layers of paint under a microscope. Along with the sequence of paint colors he is also able to tell us approximately how long a building was bare wood before being painted as well as if a certain sections have been replaced with newer wood.

Once the original colors are determined a decision needs to be made on what color to use. Many factors are weighed when making the decision such as the paint colors popular for the time period that the building is being interpreted as, as well as the current use of the building in the village. For instance, at one point in time our town hall had been a red tavern. It's use as a town hall necessitates a color other than red!

Jones Farm

One of the most notable changes is the dramatic color change to the Foster-Tufts house. You may also notice that the large hinges on the sliding door to the left have been painted over. This is not a mistake but what would have been the norm in the 19th Century! The Jones Farm has also been given a new (old!) look and the Brooks Grove Church is currently being painted.

In addition, this season we will be changing the shutters on many of the buildings in the village square to bright green, a popular color in the Mid 19th Century. These shutters are already visible on St Feehans Church and the Romulus Female seminary.

Green Shutters On The Seminary

For those interested, the paint colors used on Foster-Tufts and The Jones Farm are:

Foster Tufts:
Main Color-Grand Teton White-Benjamin Moore

Jones Farm:
Main Color: Edgecomb Gray-Benjamin Moore, Historic Color Collection
Doors: Spiced Berry-Dunn-Edwards Paints
Trim: Alexandria Beige- Benjamin Moore, Historic Color Collection

Extreme Makeover-Romulus Female Seminary Edition

As many of you are aware, we have made many changes to the Romulus Female Seminary this year. If you have not yet been out to take a look at the new classroom we think you will be amazed at the transformation. We've taken this building from being a relatively similar exhibit each year and created a gorgeous hands on 19th century classroom!

For more about the seminary and the hands-on activities click here for an earlier post.

Cloak Room With Hand Grained Paneling

Handmade Wash Stand

Student's View

Teacher's Desk

Historic Reproduction Maps

Wall of 19th Century Educational Materials

Stuart's Musings-Bells Around The Village

Two Bells and a Couple of Towers
By Stuart Bolger 
Bell: A hollow metal device used for making a more or less loud noise.

 The earliest bells were probably not cast but fashioned of metal plates riveted together. By the Middle Ages, bell makers had gradually worked out the principles of bell construction, mixtures of metals, lines and proportion. 

Bell-metal bronze is a mixture of copper and tin in the proportion of 4-1. The thickness of the bell’s edge is 1/10 of its diameter and the height is three times its thickness.


Our cherished Liberty Bell was first hung in Philadelphia in 1753 and bears the inscription “Proclaim Liberty throughout the land and unto all the inhabitants thereof.” (Leviticus 25.10) Thus it was fitting in July 1776 to proclaim the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Taken to Allentown, Pa., it was hidden during British occupation of Philadelphia (1777-78) For a time after the bell was returned to Philadelphia, it was housed in a brick tower. It cracked in 1853, and now rests, as you know, as an exhibit in Independence Hall. More about another once-hidden bell in a moment. 

Brooks Grove Church with Bell Tower

The influence of bells in the evolution of church architecture is evident in church tower construction and can be seen in the village. At first scarcely rising above the roof and intended for lanterns to light the sanctuary, they were heightened to accommodate the church bell, so that its sound could be heard at greater distance. From the three-stage classical tower of The Brooks Grove Church, its bell once sounded across the near Livingston County countryside on religious and social occasions.


In 1972, when the Brooks Grove congregation disbanded, the bell was bought by the Zen Buddhists and removed to their retreat above Honeoye Lake. When the Buddhists learned about the relocation and restoration of the Brooks Grove Church in the village they gallantly sold the seriously sounding bronze bell to the Museum, where the bell sounds forth on special occasions. The curators have warned it should be used sparingly. Thus the bell rope is out of reach of fourth-graders. 

There is no rope to pull the bell in the Town Hall. It is mechanically activated by a clockworks recycled from the Buffalo Roman Catholic church. The bell itself was recycled from one fraternity house to another on the U of R campus.


During one dark night in November 1941, the iconic bell that the brothers of Delta Upsilon had liberated from an old one-room schoolhouse was surreptitiously relocated from the second floor of the Federal Revival Delta Upsilon fraternity house and buried beneath the basement floor of the nearby Greek Revival—and rival—fraternity house, Psi Upsilon.

Town Hall

Forty years later, on a fine fall afternoon in 1981, the director of the Genesee Country Museum (who had been one of the two alleged 1941 thieves) directed the bell’s unearthing. He saw to it that the bell was moved from the campus and securely hung 20 miles away in the Town Hall tower at Genesee Country Museum—well out of reach of fourth-graders as well as aged, but loyal and vengeful Delta Upsilon alumni.

Romulus Female Seminary

Museum Notes: Stuart Bolger was the director of the Genesee Country Village & Museum in 1981!
This year, the bell in the bell tower of the Romulus Female Seminary is also in working order.

Hands-On at the Romulus Female Seminary

Another new feature this year at the museum, are changes to the Romulus Female Seminary.

Hand Graining The Desks

The seminary has undergone a remarkable transformation!

The new seminary includes an old and valuable piano forte, teacher's desk, chalk board and large maps that were reproduced onto canvas for us. The desks were handmade and hand grained by museum volunteers and staff. There will be a wood stove in the middle of the room to keep the pupils and teacher warm on cold days. An art teacher designed a script alphabet that will be posted around the room as well as rules for conduct in the classroom. We also removed the back door of the building to more closely resemble a school house of the period.

As exciting as the physical transformations are, the hands-on additions are equally special as well.


We will be offering actual 19th-century style lessons to school groups. Lessons will be offered in Botany, Geography, based on New York State maps and Calligraphy. The classes will commence with a ringing of the school bell and will then divide into boys and girls before the lesson begins. Students will have pastels, pen and ink at their desk.

School groups that are interested should contact the program registrar at (585) 538-6822, ext 210.

Funding for this project was provided by generous grants from The M & T Charitable Foundation, the Guido and Ellen Palma Foundation and the Ames-Amzalak Memorial Trust.

Welcome to the Genesee Country Village & Museum Blog

Welcome to The Official Blog of the Genesee Country Village & Museum, Life in a 19th Century Village.

Opening day is May 15th and we have much in store for you this year with new programs in the Foster-Tufts House, Kieffer's Place, the Romulus Female Seminary, the Davis Opera House & the W. Grieve Brewery where we will be brewing beer for the first time ever!


Please join us on this blog daily to learn about museum programs, features and little known facts as well as an exploration of life in the 19th century.

In addition to that, you can also follow us on Facebook.

We invite you to read and participate in the conversation with us. Please make comments! If you have specific questions related to the museum or 19th century life please feel free to contact us via email on the right hand side. We will be compiling interesting questions into a monthly Q& A column.