Abstract
When Benjamin Franklin wrote to a friend in 1763 about the frontier settlement surrounding Fort Pitt, he noted, "There is a Brewery, would you think it, near the Town." Alcohol and its consumption played a long and critical role in the region, including the tumult that grew into the Whiskey Rebellion. As saloons and taverns continued to open, these establishments offered communal space where people could conduct trade and provided a place for recent immigrants to make connections. Many became legendary in their eras and even across the decades.
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