Built in the mid-18th century and reconstructed after a fire demolished it in 1822, it was the birthplace of inventor Robert Fulton (1765–1815).

The Robert Fulton Birthplace is located about 7 miles (11 km) south of Quarryville in rural Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on the west side of US 222 near its junction with Swift Road.

It was then given a complete restoration to return it to its original appearance at the time of Fulton's birth, and has been open as a museum property since.

[4] Fulton's development of a viable steamship, the North River Steamboat or "Clermont", in 1807, is widely regarded as introducing a transportation revolution into early 19th-century America.

It was not the only invention of Fulton's that was significant: he also developed dredging equipment for use in rivers and canals, invented a system of inclined planes for transporting canal barges over hills, and developed early versions of torpedoes and diving boats.