 Fouke is known to have practiced carpentry in the Shepherdstown area in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century which could indicate he was responsible for the construction of the circa 1795 structure.Beyond his role as a carpenter, little has been recorded of his life, yet one account puts Fouke at the launch of James Rumsey’s steam-powered boat on the Potomac River in 1787 where he exclaimed, "Why, sir, she could navigate through the Strait of Gibraltar.