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The Myrtles:History with a Side of Ghosts
The Myrtles:History with a Side of Ghosts
By Anne Butler
The Myrtles Plantation, originally known as Laurel Grove, was established in the late 1790s by David Bradford, wealthy judge who in 1794 represented Monongahela Valley farmers opposing an unpopular excise tax newly levied by US authorities on their corn whiskey, the principal economic product of western Pennsylvania. He was prominent and influential, although some fellow attorneys in the region considered him “mentally unstable…and lacking in judgement” according to at least one book on the revolt, which was the first test of the power of the new federal government. As one of the ringleaders of the so-called Whiskey Rebellion, elected unanimously to serve as Major General in command of the forces, Bradford escaped arrest by heading to Spanish territory (the St. Francisville area remained under Spanish control until 1810). It was he who built the north section of the house on a grant of 650 arpents.