Event Name: The Whiskey Rebellion - Talk by Author Brady Crytzer
Date: Thursday, June 27, 2024, 7 p.m.
Location: West Overton Village
Address: 109 West Overton Road, Scottdale, PA, 15683
Admission: $30 for West Overton Village members, $35 for non-members
Join us at West Overton Village for an engaging presentation by Brady J. Crytzer, historian and author of "The Whiskey Rebellion: A Distilled History of an American Crisis."
In 1791, more than a decade before the Overholts settled West Overton, farmers in western Pennsylvania were outraged by the passage of a tax on whiskey. Intended to balance America’s national debt, the tax disproportionately penalized small farmers in the backcountry who distilled their excess grain as a source of income. They demanded that the whiskey tax be revoked or rewritten to correct its perceived injustices.
As months and years passed, the people of western Pennsylvania grew restless with the inadequacy of the government’s response and soon turned to more violent means of political expression. In response, President George Washington raised an army of 13,000 men to suppress the rebellion. While no major battle occurred, weeks of arrests, illegal detentions, and civil rights violations rocked the west, polarized the nation, and highlighted dramatic differences between political parties. Two centuries later the Whiskey Rebellion stands as the second largest domestic rebellion in American History, only outdone by the Confederate States of America in 1861.
The Whiskey Rebellion speaks to the importance of whiskey distilling in western Pennsylvania history. Whiskey distilling flourished as a professional industry throughout the 19th century and until Prohibition, with several distilleries reopening after Prohibition was repealed. Today, West Overton Village, the site of a former distillery operated by the Overholt family, is a nonprofit historic site with a museum located in the 1859 distillery / gristmill building. West Overton Village also manages West Overton Distilling, which began producing Monongahela rye whiskey on site in 2020, the first time since Prohibition.
In May 2024, West Overton Village opened the new Whiskey Heritage Center in their Museum. The Sam Komlenic Gallery features more than 450 artifacts related to Pennsylvania whiskey history, including 270+ historic whiskey bottles.
Tickets
Tickets are $30 for West Overton Village members, $35 for non-members. The program will include a presentation and Q&A session, along with a complimentary cocktail provided by West Overton Distilling. Attendees also receive admission to the Museum, including the Sam Komlenic Gallery in the new Whiskey Heritage Center.
About the Presenter
With seven books to his credit, Brady J. Crytzer is the winner of the 2023 Judge Robert K. Woltz History Award. A specialist in the Imperial History of North America, Crytzer is a narrator and commentator on the hit cable series "Into the Wild Frontier" on NBC Peacock and “Outlaws and Lawmen” on FOX News. He has been featured on CSPAN, NBC, FOX News, and SiriusXM. He is the host of the weekly hit podcast "Dispatches: The Podcast of the Journal of the American Revolution."
Crytzer is the host of the Telly Award Winning cable series Battlefield Pennsylvania on the PCN, and the winner of the Donna J. McKee and Donald S. Kelly Awards for Outstanding Scholarship and Service in History. His work has been featured in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Journal of the American Revolution, Pennsylvania Heritage, Game News, and Muzzleloader Magazine. His work has been reviewed in Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist, The Journal of Southern History, The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, and The Journal of Military History.
Contact:
Pam Curtin
Director of Visitor Engagement
West Overton Village & Museum
724-887-7910 ext.102
109 W. Overton Rd., PO Box 3, Scottdale PA 15683
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About West Overton Village:
West Overton Village is a nonprofit historic site and museum that illustrates the rise of the American Industrial Revolution. The Overholts, a Mennonite family, transformed their farm into an industrial village over the course of the 19th century. West Overton supported a distilling complex that produced one of the country’s oldest and most renowned rye whiskey brands, along with a commercial coverlet factory, a gristmill, a coal mine with 110 coke ovens, and a community of agricultural and industrial workers. West Overton native Henry Clay Frick left his fortune to his daughter, Helen Clay Frick, who purchased the property in 1922 as a way to memorialize her father. Today, West Overton Village preserves 19 historic buildings across 40 acres and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Visitors can tour the 1838 Overholt Homestead, the museum in the 1859 distillery building, and the educational distillery in which West Overton produces their own whiskey for the first time since Prohibition. Learn more at www.westovertonvillage.org.
