[5] Like his friend and Harvard classmate, author Owen Wister, Furness traveled to the American West for recreation, hunting and fishing.

[d] Furness erected his cottage in the isolated southern part of the club compound, on a slightly sloping lot amid tall trees.

[10]: 290  Walter Rogers Furness's father served as chairman of the library's building committee, and was intimately involved in its planning and detailing.

[10]: 290  The library inspired the design of Frank Furness's own apsidal-ended country house, "Idlewild" (c.1890),[15] built in the Philadelphia suburbs, just outside Media, Pennsylvania.

Publisher Joseph Pulitzer purchased the cottage from Furness in 1896, and had it moved to his building lot at Riverview Drive and Stable Road.

[9] Hydroelectric power magnate and art patron John J. Albright purchased the Pulitzer villa in 1914, slightly moved the Furness cottage—about 70 ft (21 m)[9]—and also used it to house servants.

On January 21, 1930, it was moved a distance of about a quarter-mile (400 m),[9] to the northeast corner of Old Plantation and Stable Roads (its current site).

[9] Hurricane Matthew hit Jekyll Island in October 2016, and the Furness cottage was damaged by a fallen tree.

The nearby Jekyll Island Museum moved its visitors center and gift shop to the cottage, while its own building underwent renovations.