Qualla: Blennerhassett Island Historical State Park

Blennerhassett Island Historical State Park: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Pub. by Peoples News Agency, Marietta, Ohio. "Tichnor Quality Views," Reg. U. S. Pat. Off. Made Only by Tichnor Bros., Inc., Boston, Mass., Public domain. You reach it by sternwheeler. A reproduction nineteenth-century riverboat leaves Point Park on Second Street in Parkersburg, West Virginia, and takes about twenty minutes to cross the Ohio River and tie up at the dock of Blennerhassett Island. From the dock, a horse-drawn carriage carries visitors up a wagon path to a large white Federal-style mansion sitting on a lawn that runs down to the river. The mansion is a 1980s replica, built on the original 1798 foundations of the house that Harman and Margaret Blennerhassett constructed during the brief years they tried to make this island their own private Arcadia. The original house burned in 1811. The replica is detailed and convincing. The real story - of the Irish gentleman, his young wife, and the conspiracy that destroyed them both - is more interesting than the architecture.

Image: Pub. by Peoples News Agency, Marietta, Ohio. "Tichnor Quality Views," Reg. U. S. Pat. Off. Made Only by Tichnor Bros., Inc., Boston, Mass. | Public domain

Blennerhassett Island Historical State Park: Harman and Margaret

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit WVhybrid (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0. Harman Blennerhassett was an Anglo-Irish gentleman who arrived in America in 1796 with his much younger wife - and niece - Margaret Agnew. They had married in Ireland in defiance of their families and crossed the Atlantic in part to escape the scandal. Blennerhassett used his inh...