Bradford mural celebrated with public gathering
Barbara Miller/Observer-Reporter
The in-the-flesh retired newsman David Budinger of East Washington poses next to a depiction of himself in frontiersman attire. Washington High School art students created his likeness in a wooden cut-out that is part of the David Bradford-Whiskey Rebellion mural.
Ladies in early American costumes passed out attention-getting cookies decorated to resemble whiskey barrels along with fliers asking attendees to watch for the opening of the Whiskey Rebellion Education and Visitor Center across the street from the stone house on South Main Street.
Barbara Miller/Observer-Reporter
Artist Diane Adams painted a line of troops that look like they could be advancing on Joe DeThomas of Washington at the public gathering on the grounds of the David Bradford House Wednesday night.
Micah McCloskey and Danielle White, both of Washington, read the text of a painted scroll that describes the insurrection of 1794 and David Bradford's escape from the community to avoid federal troops.
There may have been no Whiskey Rebellion Festival this past summer due to the scourge known as the novel coronavirus, but a small-scale gathering took place Wednesday evening centered on the same theme.
When they set a date weeks ago to highlight the new mural across from the southern side of the David Bradford House, organizers couldn’t have known the event would coincide with the balmiest of November nights.
Local artist Diane Adams and Washington High School art students have worked all year to depict Bradford’s role in that initial challenge to federal power in the fledgling United States of America.
The central issue, taxation, rankles some to this day. Targeted for taxation was the distilling of rye, turning farmers’ grain into a cash crop that was transported eastward across mountains to coastal population centers.
It can be hard to bring to light the importance of long-past events, so museum and house dedicated to insurrectionist David Bradford House has, in the mural, an illustration visitors can ponder to help them understand the significance of the site in American history.