| Ohio (Washington County), Belpre — 6-84 — Bathsheba Rouse |
| | Born on September 28, 1769 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Bathsheba Rouse is recognized as the first woman to teach in the Northwest Territory. Rouse arrived in the region along with other pioneers in 1788. The following year, the Belpre community employed Rouse to teach young children in the Farmers' Castle near the Ohio River. Instruction in reading, writing, and sewing was reserved for the girls, while boys received lessons in reading, writing, and arithmetic. Rouse taught in Belpre for . . . — Map (db m20083) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Belpre — 17-84 — Belpre and the Ohio River |
| | Side A:
The history of Belpre and the Ohio River are inextricably linked. Settlers from New England, including farmers and Revolutionary War veterans, arrived via flatboats at “Belle-Prairie” (beautiful prairie) in 1789. Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery paid a visit in keelboats in 1803 as they began their epic journey to the Pacific. Belpre's farmers raised fruits, vegetables, and grain. Packet boats carried flour, livestock, vinegar, and passengers down river, some . . . — Map (db m20119) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Belpre — Belpre Veterans Memorial |
| |
In Honor of All Veterans
Who Served Their Country.
Presented by the people of
the Belpre area.
May 30, 1981 — Map (db m20125) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Belpre — Cedarville Cemetery — Rotary Club of Belpre, 1996 - 2008 |
| | The Cedarville (name of immediate area - changed to Rockland, later to Belpre) Cemetery contains graves of 14 Revolutionary War soldiers - some of the graves have washed over the Ohio River bank when the level rose and left graves underwater. The property is maintained by the Belpre Township Trustees. Starting in the early 2000s, the Rotary Club of Belpre restored the property and remarked the graves. — Map (db m20123) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Belpre — 7-84 — Devol's Floating Mill |
| | In 1791, Captain Jonathan Devol, upon a proposal from Griffin Greene, designed and built a floating grain mill, which was erected on two boats and anchored within several yards of the Ohio River shore near this marker. Oak planks fastened the boats together and formed a deck, upon which sat a frame building that enclosed the mill's running gears and millstones. The mill's position in a rapid portion of the river and its proximity to Farmer's Castle, a fortification of thirteen blockhouses, . . . — Map (db m20176) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Belpre — 15-84 — Early Ohio Artists |
| |
[Side A:]
Born in Massachusetts in 1805, Sala Bosworth spent all but nineteen years of his eighty-five years in Washington County. After studying at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts, he returned to the county to paint many full size and miniature portraits of prominent Washington County citizens. His historical drawings were used in Samuel P. Hildreth's Pioneer History. He is also known for his mural in what is now the Unitarian Universalist Church in Marietta. Bosworth moved . . . — Map (db m20127) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Belpre — 9-84 — Putnam Family Library / Belpre Farmers' Library |
| | As a shareholder of the United Library Association in Pomfret, Connecticut, General Israel Putnam amassed a large collection of books, which was called the Putnam Family Library. The collection was divided among his heirs after his death in 1790. His son, Colonel Israel Putnam brought part of that collection with him to Washington County, Ohio, in 1795. Education was a foremost concern to settlers in the Ohio Country and was reinforced in article three of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. . . . — Map (db m20129) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Belpre — 22-84 — Underground Railroad Crossings / Near Border War |
| | Underground Railroad Crossings
Underground Railroad crossings, agents, and conductors were common along the Ohio River between Washington County, Ohio and Wood County, Virginia. At Constitution, six miles upriver from Belpre, Judge Ephraim Cutler listened for hoot owl calls that signaled when a boatload of runaway slaves was crossing from Virginia to the Ohio shore. “Aunt Jenny,” a slave woman in Virginia, used a horn signal to alert abolitionist John Stone in Belpre when . . . — Map (db m20130) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Devola — 2-84 — The Devola Lock |
| | The Devola Lock was one of eleven built on the Muskingum River from Marietta to Ellis, north of Zanesville, from 1836 to 1841. The locks are approximately thirty-five feet wide and 160 feet long. The State of Ohio funded the project as part of the Ohio Canal System. The improvements made the shallow river navigable by steamboats. Travelers ascended over 100 feet from Marietta to Dresden on ninety miles of river. Farmers shipped corn, wheat, eggs, and wool, while manufacturers shipped goods, . . . — Map (db m18015) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Lowell — 5-84 — Covered Bridges |
| | Lowell was the site of one of ten wooden covered bridges, built from 1820 to 1887, that crossed the Muskingum River from Marietta to Coshocton. The Lowell bridge was built in 1881. Bridges were built out of wood because there was plenty of lumber available, and building with wood was easier and cheaper than using stone. Covers protected the timbers from rain. The bridge connected Lowell, on the north side of the river, with the railroad that ran on the south side. This bridge suffered from many . . . — Map (db m18016) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Lowell — Fortified Settlement |
| | About 800 feet south of this point, on the south bank of the Muskingum River is the site of the
Fortified Settlement
Erected in April, 1799, by Nicholas Coburn, Robert Allison, Nathan Kinney, William Davis and their families, and Oliver Dodge, Daniel Davis, Joseph Simons and Asa Coburn.
This temporary settlement was used until the end of Indian hostilities when each man began to clear his own land. The colony was organized by Nicholas Coburn. The settlement was located on land . . . — Map (db m18020) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Lowell — Lowell Veterans Memorial |
| | Dedicated to all those who have served
Dedicated Memorial Day 1995 — Map (db m18019) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — Oweva Engine |
| | This non-condensing engine with a 12” diameter cylinder and four-foot stroke is one of two first installed on the sternwheel packet CARRIE BROWN (built at Harmar in 1890), which worked the trade between Huntington and Gallipolis. When this boat burned in 1913, the machinery was installed on the ferry OWEVA, then transferred again to the ferry PAUL F. THOMAS. After the Thomas was dismantled at Huntington, the engines were presented to the Ohio Historical Society in memory of Captain Paul . . . — Map (db m20656) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — American Union Lodge No. 1, F. & A. M. |
| |
[Main Marker:]
One of the six lodges which in
1808 founded the Grand Lodge
Free and Accepted Masons of Ohio.
Erected May 10, 1958.
[Second Marker:]
Harmar Lodge No. 390
Free & Accepted Masons
of Ohio
Chartered October 17, 1867
Laid cornerstone of temple
October 7, 1907 — Map (db m20185) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — Buckley House |
| |
Built 1879, former residence of Maria M. Woodbridge, granddaughter of Dudley Woodbridge, first merchant and early judge.
The Rotary Club of Marietta
Marking a Place in History with Service since 1921 — Map (db m20173) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — Campus Martius |
| |
Ohio Company fortress
protected first settlers
and Northwest
Territory seat of
government from
Indians. 1788-1795.
The Rotary Club of Marietta
Marking a Place in History with Service Since 1921 — Map (db m20174) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — Celoron de Blainville |
| | [Main Top Plaque]
The inscription appearing below
Is a replica of the one engraved on a lead plaque
Buried on this spot on August 15th, 1749 by
CELORON De BLAINVILLE
And of which a fragment recovered in 1798
Is preserved by the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass.
L'an 1749 Du Regne De Louis XV Roy De France
Nous Celoron Commandant D'un Detachement
Envoie par Monsieur Le Mis de La Galissoniere
Commandant General de la Nouvelle France
Pour . . . — Map (db m20752) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — First Congregational Church |
| | First Congregational Church, chartered in 1796, was the N.W. Territory's first organized church. Dedicated 1809 using Rufus Putnam's “Two Horn” plan, the first building burned in 1905. This church built 1906. — Map (db m20649) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — First Congregational Church — (Immanuel Baptist - Affiliated) |
| | Sunday School 9:15 a.m., Worship 10:00 a.m. The first church in Marietta, organized Dec. 6, 1796. The present building is patterned after the original church, familiarly known to settlers as the “Two Horned Church.” Visitors are welcome — Map (db m20650) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — Flatboats |
| | Flatboats were designed to carry cargo downstream, floating with the current. With flat bottoms, they were easily built to any size desired. In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, they were a major method of transportation for settlers traveling west into Ohio, Kentucky, and other states, and were often called “Kentucky Boats.” These boats were usually dismantled on reaching their destination, and the wood was used to build the settlers' houses. Even into the late . . . — Map (db m20178) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — Flood Heights |
| | The adjacent poles show the heights of all floods at Marietta above 49.5 feet according to current flood gauge readings. — Map (db m20179) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — Fort Harmar — Rotary International |
| | Built 1785 by U.S. Major John Doughty's federal troops. Named for General Josiah Harmar. Troops twice battled Indians in western Ohio. — Map (db m20726) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — General Arthur St. Clair — First Governor of the North West Territory |
| | Gen. Arthur St. Clair here inaugurated first governor of the North West Territory
July 15, 1788 — Map (db m20670) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — Lafayette — The Beginning of Tourism in the United States |
| |
Lafayette
Landed at this point, May 25, 1825
——— • • • ———
Returning in 1824 to the young Nation he had greatly assisted during the Revolutionary War, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquess de la Fayette embarked on an unprecedented and triumphal Tour of the United States which lasted 1½ years. In early 1825 he left New Orleans by boat landing at Marietta on May 25, 1825 stopping overnight at the residence of Nahum . . . — Map (db m20736) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — Land Office |
| | Oldest building in Northwest Territory. From 1788 Gen. Rufus Putnam recorded war veteran land grants and sales. Maintained Ohio Company surveys and maps.
The Rotary Club of Marietta
Marking a Place in History with Service Since 1921 — Map (db m20183) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — 14-84 — Lewis and Clark Expedition / Letter to the President |
| | [Marker Front]:
The Lewis and Clark Expedition
Meriwether Lewis arrived in Marietta on September 13, 1803. His descent of the Ohio River aboard a keelboat began his expedition to explore the West. Included among his crew was 18-year old George Shannon of Barnesville, the only member of the Corps of Discovery known to have been from Ohio. While in Marietta, Lewis wrote a letter to President Thomas Jefferson. In updating his journal, he wrote,"This evening was visited by Colo. . . . — Map (db m20741) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — Life on the River / Boats on the Ohio |
| | (Left Side Panel): Life on the River “Wheel Coal - Sleep - Eat - Wheel Coal: If there was such a thing as a typical day in the life of a deckhand...that would be it.” - W.V. Torner, recalling life as a deckhand.
Towboats are a twenty-four-hour operation. On boats like the W.P. Snyder Jr. crews worked a six-hour shift, called a watch. The forward watch worked from 6 a.m. to noon and then was replaced by the after watch. The forward watch reported back at 6 p.m. The . . . — Map (db m20578) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — Meigs House |
| | Built 1802 for Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr., Ohio's first postmaster, fourth governor, U.S. senator and postmaster general. — Map (db m20586) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — Memorial to the "Start Westward of the United States" |
| | Sculpted for Marietta's Sesquicentennial by Gutzon Borglum
——————————
Dedicated July 1938 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a tribute to those farsighted pioneers who journeyed here from New England in 1788 and established Marietta as the first permanent settlement in the Northwest Territory under the landmark Ordinance of 1787
——————————
Rededicated July 1988 at the . . . — Map (db m20674) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — Merydith House |
| | Built 1868 for Conrad Biszantz. Owned by Merydith family from 1897 to 1963. Later Thomas and Gammon. — Map (db m20602) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — Mighty River / Learning the River |
| | MIGHTY RIVER
Although it remains an unpredictable force of nature, the Ohio River was far more volatile a century ago. Thirty-foot floods could wash away everything along the river's edge, only to be followed by dry spells that would lower the water level to mere inches. In the winter, giant ice gorges could jam the river, destroying boats and bridge foundations.
Since 1929, locks and dams have controlled the waters on the Ohio River. These systems were replaced by the current system . . . — Map (db m21676) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — Muskingum Park |
| | President Theodore Roosevelt and W. H. Taft spoke here in 1912. President Franklin Roosevelt dedicated the “Start Westward” sesquicentennial monument in 1938. — Map (db m20603) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — 20-84 — Muskingum River Underground Railroad / Marietta Leaders of the Underground Railroad |
| | Muskingtum River Underground Railroad
People living in Marietta and along the Muskingum River shared a history of slavery opposition. Manasseh Cutler, from Massachusetts and an Ohio Land Company agent, helped draft the Ordinance of 1787 that prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territory. General Rufus Putnam, Captain Jonathan Stone, and other Ohio Land Company Revolutionary War veterans, founded Marietta at the mouth of the Muskingum River in 1788 bringing with them their anti-slavery . . . — Map (db m21653) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — Northwest Ordinance Sesquicentennial Columns |
| | Here the new United States of America found, through Northwest territory, the first and common offspring of thirteen discordant and disputatious states, her formula to eminence among all the governments of mankind.
To those unfamed citizens who conceived a new purpose and direction for this nation in its making and whose insistence upon incorporation of the “Rights of Men” into our fundamental law set the pattern for America's contribution to the governmental progress of . . . — Map (db m20654) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — Oldest Pilothouse |
| | The steamboat TELL CITY was built in 1889 and named for Tell City, Ind. She carried passenger and freight on the Ohio River until she sank following an accident at Little Hocking, Ohio on April 6, 1917.
The Pilothouse was removed from the wreck and served as a summer house on the river front lawn of the Bent family in Little Hocking.
Mrs. Cora Bent presented this Pilothouse to the Ohio Historical Society for inclusion in the historic displays of the Ohio River Museum here in Marietta. . . . — Map (db m20635) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — Pioneer Families of the Ohio Company |
| | Erected by the New Century Historical Society to record the names and commemorate the landing near this spot of the pioneer families of the Ohio Company August nineteenth 1788. Their homes were established in Campus Martius.
Benjamin Tupper
Huldah Tupper.
Nathaniel Cushing
Elizabeth Cushing.
Nathan Goodale
Elizabeth Goodale.
Asa Coburn
Mary Coburn
Ichabod Nye
Minerva Nye
Andrew Webster
Also their children. — Map (db m20637) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — Pioneer Marietta — circa 1792 |
| | This land at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers was part of a million-and-a-half acre tract made available by the Northwest Territory Ordinance of 1787, and purchased by the Ohio Company of Associates for resale and settlement. Many of the pioneers were Revolutionary War veterans who named their new city "Adelphia" meaning "Brethren." They later changed the name to "Marietta" in honor of the French Queen Marie Antoinette, and to express appreciation for her country's aid during the . . . — Map (db m20784) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — Pratt-McGirr House |
| | Built circa 1803 by Azariah Pratt using hand-hewn beams and wooden pegs. Marietta's oldest private residence. — Map (db m20636) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — River Town / Sails and Steam / The Highway West |
| | RIVER TOWN
"The settlement of the Ohio country, sir, engrosses many of my thoughts... and if I am to form an opinion on what I have seen and heard on the subject, there are thousands in this quarter who will emigrate to that country." - Rufus Putnam in a letter to President George Washington, 1784
When Rufus Putnam and several fellow Revolutionary War veterans established the Ohio Company of Associates in 1786, they had a grand vision. They were going to buy up a vast amount of . . . — Map (db m21678) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — Site of the United States Fort Harmar — Built 1785 |
| | Garrisoned by U.S. troops 1785 to 1790
Headquarters 1786 and 1788 of
Gen. Josiah Harmar of PA.
General-in-Chief U.S.A. — Map (db m20728) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — Southern Boundary Picketed Point |
| | This stone is placed to keep
In remembrance the Historic
Point where dwelt during four
Years of Indian War 1791-1795
Early settlers of Ohio. — Map (db m20731) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — Steam Towboat "W. P. Snyder, Jr." — "The Vanishing Steam Age" |
| | You are cordially invited to visit one of the last of the Mark Twain Era steam towboats used so successfully on the Mississippi and Ohio River systems during the past century. This boat was presented to the Ohio Historical Society in September 1955 by the Crucible Steel Company of America and is administered as a section of the RIVER MUSEUM of CAMPUS MARTIUS MUSEUM. Acquisition of this fine specimen was sponsored by the Sons and Daughters of Pioneer Rivermen. The W. P. Snyder, Jr., is one of . . . — Map (db m20633) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — 1-84 — The American Union Lodge No. 1 Free and Accepted Masons |
| | The lodge was organized in Roxbury, Massachusetts, on February 10, 1776, by Connecticut soldiers in the Continental Army. It met when and where it could during the Revolutionary War. By tradition, the lodge's name and seal were suggested by Benjamin Franklin and the seal was engraved by Paul Revere. Many of the lodge members settled in the Marietta area following the war. On June 28, 1790, the lodge was reorganized in Campus Martius under its original warrant held by Past Master Capt. Jonathan Heart, commandant of Fort Harmer. — Map (db m20669) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — The Holden House / The Shipman House |
| | The Holden House
408 Front Street
Built in 1852, this house is located on Ministerial land leased to Edwin Putnam in 1809.
The house was built for Joseph Holden, born in Massachusetts, in Dec. of 1767. It was later owned by William Holden, and his son, James.
The house retains the rectangular shape, minimal ornamentation, 12 inch walls and 12 foot ceilings - a fine example of Greek Revival architecture.
Present owners make use of all 4 floors and have retained the Victorian . . . — Map (db m20182) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — 11-84 — The Northwest Ordinance, 1787 / The Ohio Company Purchase |
| | Side A: The Northwest Ordinance, 1787
Following the establishment of the public land system in 1785, the Continental Congress appointed a committee, chaired by James Monroe, to establish government in the new territory north and west of the Ohio River. Drafted prior to the Constitution of the United States, the Ordinance of 1787 provided the mechanism by which prospective states would enter the Union on an equal basis with existing states. It also prohibited slavery in the new . . . — Map (db m20653) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — 19-84 — The Towboat W. P. Snyder Jr. |
| | Side A:
The W.P. SNYDER Jr. is one of the few links between the age of steam-powered, stern-wheeled towboats and the diesel-powered, propeller-driven vessels that push barges on America's rivers today. The James Rees and Sons Company in Pittsburgh built the boat for the Carnegie Steel Company, and she was launched in 1918 as the W.H. CLINGERMAN. During the boat's working life, she primarily pushed barges loaded with coal on the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers. After various changes in . . . — Map (db m20632) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — The W. P. Snyder Jr. |
| | The W.P. Snyder Jr. is a steam-powered towboat. It moved barges loaded with coal, iron ore, and steel along the Monongahela and Ohio rivers.
When it was launched in 1918, the boat was originally owned by Carnegie Steel and operated as the W.H. Clingerman. In 1945, the Crucible Steel Company purchased it and renamed it for their company chairman, W.P. Snyder Jr.
In many ways, the Snyder represents a bygone era on the Ohio River. It is one of the last steam-driven . . . — Map (db m20678) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — Tour of the Snyder |
| | What would the life of one of the men or women who worked on the W.P. Snyder Jr. be like? The Ohio River Museum offers tours that provide an opportunity to explore the decks of this historic vessel.
Imagine living on the boat all day. What would it be like watching the seasons change along the river bank? How would you feel piloting this 342-ton boat around the river's bends and hazards?
In the engine room, imagine the sounds of the space: the low swooshing sound made by the engines; . . . — Map (db m20680) |
| Ohio (Washington County), Marietta — Washington County Veterans Memorial |
| | . . . — Map (db m20667) |
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