The house was built by David Bradford, a successful lawyer and deputy attorney-general for Washington County, Pennsylvania who would later become a leader in the Whiskey Rebellion.

It was the first stone house on South Main Street in Washington, Pennsylvania in 1788, which, by frontier standards, ranked as a mansion.

[4] The stairway was solid mahogany; the mantel-pieces and other interior furnishings, imported from Philadelphia, were transported across the Alleghenies at considerable expense.

[2] In 1959, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission assumed control of the house and supervised restoration of its eighteenth-century design.

The museum is open from early May through mid December, giving group tours and hosting other special events.