of Washington, PA
Our Schedule of Special Events and Activities
(All events are run by our Museum Director, Clay Kilgore,
and a dedicated group of volunteers.
Please consider becoming a member.)
2012 Events
The Fourth Symposium on Life and Customs in Western Pennsylvania
March 30th and 31st
The
Symposium on Life and Customs brings together speakers from throughout
the eastern United States to speak on a variety of topics concerning
18th Century Western Pennsylvania Frontier. In the past this has been a
one day event with six speakers presenting unique views into life and
customs on the western frontier. This year we are making a few changes.
To learn more about the event and to hear about the new additions, visit
the link below.
Please see below for information on our symposium held in 2009.
The Third Symposium on 18th Century Life and Culture
The
Bradford House and Washington & Jefferson College had a very
successful day-long symposium on Saturday, March 21, 2009. We had
experienced speakers, a lively crowd, and great papers (which are
listed below).
American Manners in the Age of Jackson - Tom Mainwaring, Ph.D. Dr. Mainwaring related the rather acid opinions of American manners reported by a visiting English woman: Francis Trollope, the mother of Anthony Trollope, the famous author. Her comments on American manners were very entertaining, if arguably extreme.
Reflections From a Grass Widow - Violet M. Covert. This speaker described some of the hardships of journeying over the Allegheny Mountains and of living on the Pennsylvania Frontier as found in the journal of Sally Hastings, a young wife, abandoned by her husband, who elected to leave her children behind and go west rather than stay in a community in which she was unwelcome. The speaker also discussed her novelization of this journal.
The Shot Not Heard Around the World: Trent's Fort and the Opening of the War for Empire
by Doug MacGregor, Educator at the Fort Pitt Museum, the winner of our
juried competition for papers. You can see his winning paper here.
He discussed how the confrontations between the English and
French/Indians at Trents's Fort could be seen as the start of the
hostilities that led to a major European war (the spill-over into
America being known as the French and Indian War).
The Rhetoric of Rhetoric: Small Pox Blankets and Popular Culture - a post-9/11 review
- Jessica Cox (our 2nd place winner in the juried paper competition).
This paper was a both a careful assessment of the actual effectiveness
of attempts at Fort Pitt to introduce small pox into the Indian
population with infected blankets (doubtful) and and a discussion of
the role that such stories play in times of public fear.
The Battle of Bushy Run - David Miller - Museum Educator, Bushy Run Battlefield. This paper discussed the causes and course of this particular battle and addressed some of the unresolved issues, such as where the bodies are buried.
"The best feather in our cap's" to "A very great plague" : Cherokee Presence in Pennsylvania During the Seven Years' War - Ben Scharff, Doctorial Candidate, West Virginia University. This paper offered an explanation of how and why the Colonial and British attitudes towards the Cherokee changed in a year from high esteem (founded on an unreasonable assumption that the Cherokee could be easily controlled) to hatred (as Cherokee grew uncooperative due to non-payment of promised wages and abuse by Virginians along their route of travel to Pennsylvania).
Under Construction
Outdoor Kitchen aka "Cabin"
If you had stopped by the David Bradford House during the 2011 "opening weekend", you would have had the opportunity to witness a piece of history being rebuilt. Most people in the area are familiar with the David Bradford House and its history, but what some may not know is that there is a vital aspect of that history missing.
When the house was constructed in 1788 it had no indoor kitchen, but rather a separate structure used for cooking. Outdoor kitchens kept heat and cooking odors away from the house and reduced the risk of the main house catching fire. The Bradford’s kitchen was a simple log structure located in the back garden. In 1799 it caught fire and burned to the ground. A wood-frame kitchen was built in its place, but it also was lost to fire a few years later. A stone addition was added to the house in 1805 and contained the first indoor kitchen known to the property. That kitchen is the one that survives today.
The David Bradford House Historical Association is working to reclaim the history of the log kitchen by constructing a cabin in the approximate location of the original structure. With the help of board member Tripp Kline and volunteers John Tecklenburg and Todd Ashmore, we were able to lay the foundation and set several courses of logs. More logs were placed, the roof was raised and a solid floor was built. In addition, a beautiful stone fireplace and chimney has been laid. Now, we are chinking and daubing the logs.
Once completed, this kitchen will allow us to conduct 18th-century open-hearth cooking demonstrations and better interpret what life was like for David Bradford and his family. The David Bradford House Historical Association has worked tirelessly to preserve the history of the house and its builder. This project is just another step in furthering that mission.
The Bradford House is presently owned by
the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
and is managed by the Bradford House Historical Association, Inc.,
a 501(c)3 charitable non-profit corporation.
This site is maintained by the Association. This page was revised on
April 2011.