Stately mansion on island in Ohio River was party central of West in early 1800s
Frontier palace
PSee
Page ARKERSBURG, W.Va. — At the turn of the 19th century, the most glittering jewel of the American frontier was located on an island in the Ohio River 12 miles downstream from Marietta.
Due to political intrigue, the jewel soon lost its luster, but today Blennerhassett Island, now a West Virginia state park, shines again for visitors.
The island was home to a wealthy couple — Harman and Margaret Blennerhassett — who moved to the island in 1798 and built a fabulous mansion.
The mansion was the site of the most glamorous hospitality west of the Allegheny
Mountains. The Blennerhassetts threw the biggest parties in the Ohio Valley (which, admittedly, wasn’t hard to do at the time) and hosted any VIP who happened to be passing through to the West.
Guests reportedly included the likes of Johnny Appleseed, the future King Charles X of France and, alas for the Blennerhassetts, Aaron Burr, a former vice president who killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel.
Burr, looking for financing and a base of operations, ensnared Harman Blennerhassett, a wealthy merchant and planter from Ireland, in his scheme to establish a new empire — possibly on American territory, possibly in Mexico. President Thomas Jefferson accused both men of treason and had them arrested in 1807. Mrs. Blennerhassett fled the island with her children when her husband was taken away. Although Burr was acquitted and Blennerhassett released, the Blennerhassetts, who suffered huge financial losses at the time, never returned to their beloved island.
The mansion burned in 1811 and was mostly forgotten until 1973, when archaeologists rediscovered its foundations. The magnificent 7,000-squarefoot home was rebuilt on its original footprint using historical research — including drawings and letters from some of the Blennerhassetts’ impressed guests — to recreate the building and furnish it in splendid period style.
Modern visitors arrive aboard the Island Belle sternwheeler, which leaves from the Parkersburg waterfront. The trip to the 500-acre island takes less than 30 minutes.
Guests buy tickets at the Blennerhassett Museum of Regional History in downtown Parkersburg. The museum tells the history of the Ohio Valley and its famous residents, including the Blennerhassetts.
In the basement is the fascinating — and huge — Stahl Collection of prehistoric Indian artifacts, amassed by Allegheny College professor Henry Stahl beginning in the 1860s. The collection is displayed with Stahl’s descriptions written in his own hand in a fine calligraphic style. (The magnificent old-fashioned wooden display cases could be an exhibit in their own right.)
I boarded the first Island Belle excursion of the year, riding over the swollen, muddy Ohio with several costumed interpreters who would host me and the other guests.
The spring skies threatened, but the rain never came. As we approached the island, the sun peeked out to illuminate the giant mottled sycamore trees that lined the banks and camouflaged, imperfectly, the brilliant whiteness of the Blennerhassett Mansion beyond.
The two-story Palladianstyle structure is somewhat reminiscent of George Washington’s Mount Vernon. The house is connected on either side by curving porticoes linking the main structure with a summer kitchen on the east and Harman’s library, office and laboratory on the west.
My small tour group was greeted in the front parlor, as early guests might have been, by a musician playing a hammered dulcimer. The effect was enchanting, even in 2014 — so imagine what guests on the frontier would have felt in 1800 arriving to such a welcome after a wearying multiday journey.
Our guides led us through the mansion, pointing out details such as goldpainted trim which would have been gold-leaf in the Blennerhassett days. A few Blennerhassett family pieces, such as Margaret’s mirror, have survived. But most of the decor is a best-guess effort based on period style and surviving records and letters.
My favorite room was Harman’s “man cave”— the structure to the west of the main house that held his library, telescope, desk and, not least, wine cabinet (the original is on display) and wine cellar.
In addition to the re-created mansion, visitors will find covered picnic areas, a gift shop, a refreshment stand and the historic 1802 PutnamHouser House, a two-story Visitors to this West Virginia State Park will find the re-created Blennerhassett Mansion, a historic structure that was home to glittering parties and political intrigue in the early days of the United States. Access to the island is via the sternwheeler Island Belle, which boards in downtown Parkersburg. Tickets are for sale at the Blennerhassett Museum of Regional History, 137 Juliana St., Parkersburg. Parkersburg is about 120 miles southeast of Columbus. Allow more than two hours for the drive. Visitors can tour the Blennerhassett Mansion, take a pony-drawn wagon ride, visit the historic PutnamHouser house, picnic, visit the gift shop and refreshment stand, hike the island roads and rent bicycles during the summer. For information call 304-420-4800 or visit www.blennerhassettisland statepark.com. frame building that was brought by barge to the island from the Ohio side and restored.
Visitors can also take a horse-drawn wagon ride over the quiet, shaded gravel road that encircles the upper end of the 500-acre island. The ride goes past the ruins of the Neale House, a brick building built in 1833 — long after the departure of the Blennerhassetts. Poet Walt Whitman was a guest at the Neale House and wrote his poem Isle of La Belle Riviere there.
Visitors will find it easy to imagine Aaron Burr and Harman Blennerhassett there on the banks of the beautiful Ohio, perusing valuable maps, drinking the finest Madeira and dreaming of glory — treasonous or not.