History of Scott Conservancy, Scott Township, Pennsylvania

With our support, the WW II Bower Hill Memorial was restored and moved to its present site on Kane Blvd.

2001

In 2001 we became a land trust with the donation of 4-5 acres of land to the conservancy by Bill and Marilyn Kumpf.

1996

In an awards ceremony, the Scott Conservancy was named Environmental Group of the Year for 1996 by the Allegheny County Conservation District. The Award recognized the conservancy's joint effort with the Chartiers Valley School District and the township to clean up Scott's Scrubgrass Run watershed, which was polluted by abandoned coal mine drainage. Scrubgrass Run flows into Chartiers Creek.

1989

The Scott Conservancy was established, to address concerns of environmental protection, historic preservation and the promotion of public appreciation and respect for the environment.

1794

In July, on each of two successive days, an angry mob of Whiskey Boys residing in our area marched through the Scott Conservancy's Kane Woods and the surrounding area to "Bower Hill," the plantation home of the Federal Inspector of the Excise, General John Neville, which was located at the top of Kane Blvd. near Kane Hospital. There was shooting on both days between the insurgents and defenders of the Neville plantation. Two local insurgents, James McFarlane and Oliver Miller, were killed during the attacks on "Bower Hill." The insurgents burned Neville's home and outbuildings. Neville, a Federalist, narrowly escaped the grasp of the crowd.

It was the violent reaction of the people in Western Pennsylvania that compelled President Washington, in September, to call out 12, 950 militia men to suppress the rebellion. The troops met little resistance. Instead of resistance, the troops were met only with the sullen defiance of "liberty poles" erected along the army's route.

Following the rebellion, of the rebels who were taken prisoner, two were convicted but were later pardoned, and the excise tax was repealed. The revolution became a "resolution" for the young democracy.

1791

On March 3, as a way to pay debts incurred by the colonies during the Revolutionary War, the Congress passed a federal excise tax on whiskey produced in the United States. Cash was something rare on the western frontier. The farmers had little currency to pay the tax, and turning their grain into whiskey was the only practical way to get their crop to market. As a result, organized resistance to the tax began to grow in Western Pennsylvania and surrounding areas. The resistance was increased by many inflammatory articles written by John Holcroft under the pen name of "Tom the Tinker." The insurgents, who at the time were commonly called "Whiskey Boys," destroyed property of farmers who were willing to pay the tax, and Federal revenue officials were beaten, tarred, and feathered.

1790

The new national government of the United States, led by the Federalists, was attempting to establish itself.

2008

2006