Apr 19, 2025
Art Smith
Staff Reporter
asmith@newsandsentinel.com
(Photo by Art Smith) A navigational buoy marks the upstream end of Blennerhassett Island.
(Photo by Art Smith) A navigational buoy marks the upstream end of Blennerhassett Island.
Long before a family named Blennerhassett made an island in the middle of the Ohio River their home, people were living and working on the island a few miles downstream from what is today, Parkersburg.
There is evidence that people were on the island for thousands of years. The Blennerhassett family lived there for less than a decade of that time.
The island has not only changed physically, but how humans use the island has changed over time as well.
When George Washington passed the area in 1770 he noted the cluster of islands soon after passing the “Little Kenhawa” — from his writings it does not appear that he stopped there.
For much of the history of the island was actually a cluster of smaller islands that changed with the river flow until around 1859. First Island, Second Island, Four-Acre Island and Towhead Island merged to form the island we see today. During periods of flooding, it is still possible to see the old channels when they fill with water.
Traders from Pennsylvania recorded trading with native Americans on the island in 1765. The following year a surveyor named Thomas Hutchins provided a description of the island and recorded a cabin belonging to Delaware tribe leader Nemacolin.
By 1773 squatters were farming and living on part of…
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PENNSYLVANIA STATE – Pennsylvania, a state synonymous with American history, liberty, and religious tolerance, owes its existence to the vision of one man: William Penn. An English Quaker, Penn founded the colony of Pennsylvania in 1681, transforming a vast tract of land in the New World into a haven for religious freedom and a bold experiment in self-governance.
