Our Hometown
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Foster Cottage Museum is steeped in history The Sulphur Springs Festival in Clifton Springs is centered around the 1854 Foster Cottage Museum on Main Street in the village. According to former Village Historian Fred Gifford, Dr. Henry Foster negotiated with the Clifton Springs Water Cure Co. to purchase ten acres of land lying between the Methodist Church and Sulphur Brook. Four years later, after the Water Cure had attracted a following and grown, Dr. Foster built his home. The original building contained only the front portion of the present structure. It had no cooking facilities or kitchen since the doctor, a bachelor, took all his meals in his water cure. Dr. Foster's brothers lived in the cottage and after his father died in 1859, his mother lived there until her death in 1870. Dr. Foster married Mary Edwards late in life in 1872 at age 51, and the couple moved into the home immediately becoming a center of large social gatherings for many years until he died in 1901. His widow became superintendent and continued to live there until her death in 1916. It was used as a temporary home for new physicians. In 1979, the cottage was put on the National Registry of Historic Places. Over the years, the building deteriorated somewhat; in 1999 local benefactors Mr. & Mrs. I. A. Morris began extensive repairs. Old wood was replaced with new and the exterior painted. It is interesting to note that Dr. Foster admired the rusticated exterior of George Washington's home, Mt. Vernon, and decided to have the same on his cottage. 'Rustication' is a treatment that gives wood the appearance of stone. Gifford said a fire barrier was installed through the center of the old building in order to be able to retain it as a historic center and museum. A residence was retained in the back, and the front portion was developed into a museum. Although ownership is retained by the hospital, in 2001 the Clifton Springs Historical Society obtained a 25-year lease and opened it as a museum. More information is available at www.fostercottage.org Copyright
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