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Fort Gaddis

Pennsylvania, US

Fort Gaddis

Fort Gaddis is the oldest known building in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and the second oldest log cabin in Western Pennsylvania. It is located 300 yards (270 meters) east of the old U.S. Route 119, near the Route 857 intersection of South Union Township, Pennsylvania (east of Hopwood and south of

Uniontown). Fort Gaddis was constructed between 1769 and 1774 by Colonel Thomas Gaddis, who handled the defense of the region; therefore, it is likely that his house was chosen as a location for community gatherings and emergency shelter, hence the name "Fort Gaddis", most likely a 19th-century appellation. It is a 1½-story, one-room log building and is 26 feet wide and 20 feet long. During the Whiskey Rebellion, a Liberty Pole was erected at the house during a rally in support of the rebel cause. The choice of this site for a political demonstration indicates its importance as a focal point for community expression. The fact that all the additions to the building were removed in the early twentieth century in respect for the section contemporary with the American Revolution and Whiskey Rebellion is evidence of the building's longstanding and continuing status and power as a community symbol...

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