Bradford House needs community help
The board of the David Bradford House wants you to know: Everything has changed, but nothing has changed.
Fifty years ago, when Bradford’s Washington house was in an extreme state of disrepair, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania stepped in, bought it and restored it. Our local association was given the privilege of running the house and making her unique history accessible to everyone as a museum.
A few years ago, the Pennsylvania Legislature decided to sell many of the state’s assets, and accepted our local group’s proposal to buy the house, without changing the nature of our mission.
This brings good news and bad news. The good news: The house wasn’t sold into private hands and her history wasn’t lost to the rest of us. The house is now locally owned, and all decisions will be made to the benefit of the people of Washington County and beyond. That’s wonderful.
And now the bad news: The commonwealth isn’t sending us any money. That’s up to us now.
We have an historical asset most communities would envy. We hold a unique place in US history. David Bradford was the leader of the Whiskey Rebellion, the event in our history that established the authority of the federal government. That moment in history reverberates today.
People come from near and far to tour the house. Children come to learn history on a field trip. We sponsor education events, including bringing in reenactors to explain history from a personal viewpoint. And we sponsor Washington’s annual block party, the Whiskey Rebellion Festival.
All of this takes money. Help from the community is needed to keep this resource accessible to all.
John Tecklenburg
Amity
Tecklenburg is the president of the Bradford House Historical Association.