By Ray Swick, Historian, West Virginia State Park System

Many historians today consider Blennerhassett Island to be the most historic site in the state of West Virginia. Even if Harman and Margaret Blennerhassett and Aaron Burr had never set foot on the island, it would still be a rich kaleidoscope of history because every era of its past contains colorful and exciting events. Its historical worth, in fact, was recognized at an extremely early date. As early as c. 1830, three different Ohio Valley writer independently wrote of it as having become “classic ground” because of the history that had transpired there.

There follows a brief sketch of the Island’s past, giving, by subject, some of its more important aspects:

Native Americans

Blennerhassett Island is ranked as one of the richest Native American archeological sites in the American Midwest. It was inhabited by aborigines as early as 9,000 BC. The first archeological expedition arrived on the Island from the Smithsonian Institution in 1882. Since then, archeologists have recovered many beautiful Native American artifacts from the island’s soil, such as arrowheads, spear points, pottery, jewelry, tools and carved stone pipes.

In the 1760s, the island was home of one of the most famous Native Americans in colonial America, the Delaware chief, Nemacolin. He died on the island in 1767.

Early White Settlement

Three famous Ohio Valley Indian rangers lived on the island in the 1780s and 1790s: Joshua Fleeharty, John James, Jr. and Moses Hewitt.

The Armstrong family massacre took place on nearby Virginia shore in 1794 ~ one of the bloodiest and best recorded Native American raids in Ohio Valley history. Some of the Armstrongs fled to the island for protection. The island itself was raided twice during the 1791-1795 Indian War.

Famous Visitors to Blennerhassett Island

Aaron Burr and his daughter Theodosia Burr Alston

George Rogers Clark

Charles X, King of France

James Wilkinson

Henry Clay

Walt Whitman

Johnny Appleseed

“Gentleman Jim” Corbett

Howard Chandler Christy

Gore Vidal

Medicine

The first smallpox vaccinations in the Mid-Ohio Valley occurred on the island in 1805, carried out by Mrs. Blennerhassett. There was a medical “clinic” operating on the island from 1824 to 1834.

Economics

The earliest known store in Wood County was located on the island. A ship built in Marietta was wrecked on the Island in 1802 on its way to New Orleans. A broom factory was operated on the island in the 1870s.

Culture

Under Harman and Margaret Blennerhassett, the island nurtured cultural and educational pastimes such as elegant parties and balls, Shakespearean plays, classical music, chemical experiments and astronomy. (Blennerhassett’s telescope was so big it took two men to operate it). The island was celebrated in literature, in the oratory of William Wirt, the short stories of Morgan Neville and Nathaniel Hawthorne and the poetry of Walt Whitman. It was painted and sketched by many artists, including Howard Chandler Christy and the famous Philadelphia landscape artist, Edmund Lewis.

Architecture

The Blennerhassett Mansion was considered the most beautiful home west of the Alleghenies. It contained dark marble fireplaces; oriental carpets and oriental alabaster lamps; Venetian glass mirrors; a room paneled with black walnut; and polished black walnut doors opened by silver doorknobs.

Horticulture

The formal garden of the Blennerhassett estate was filled with rare plants and shrubs and tended by an English gardener. The gardens contained long, large hothouses where there grew orange, lemon, fig and citron trees. The Blennerhassett flower garden was the finest one west of the Alleghenies. One of the orchards on Blennerhassett Island was planted by John “Johnny Appleseed” Chapman.

Nature and Ecology

The island was a natural bird sanctuary in the 1790s and the site of monstrously large trees. There are still enormous trees on the island today, including the second-largest yellow poplar east of the Mississippi, which is also one of the largest trees in West Virginia.

Ethnic Groups

Through its past, Blennerhassett Island has been the home of such diverse ethnic groups as Native Americans, African slaves, French, English, Irish and Scots.

Social Rights

The proceedings for the first divorce in the Northwest Territory were begun on the island in 1798. The first known formal (written) adoption of a child in the West took place there also in 1798.

Sports

There was a famous private park on the island from 1868 to 1912, which baseball diamond the Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers played games. About the same time, “Gentleman Jim” Corbett boxed there. (He was a heavyweight boxing champion of the U.S., 1892-1897). The park also boasted a bowling alley, shooting gallery, dance pavilion and swimming beach. Hot air balloon ascension took place from the island in the 1890s.