Built around 1809, it is a rare surviving example of post-and-plank construction, and of a build of small house which once dominated the local landscape.

The resulting structure is quite similar to a house style that was once relatively common during the late 18th and early 19th century in Queen Anne's County, Maryland.

In 1975 her heirs donated the house, and its lot, to the Kent Island Heritage Society, a group which restored and furnished it and opened it to the public.

[2] The earlier section of the house remains fairly ordered; a central door on each facade is flanked by six-over-six-pane windows.

When first discovered, the Cray House was thought to be a unique survival of an unusual type of post-and-plank construction.