Marietta, Ohio’s oldest city, has both historical and modern features

MARIETTA — The confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio Rivers proved an auspicious locale for Ohio’s initially enduring pioneer town, built in what was then the wilderness of the Northwest Territory.
Today’s day-vacation pioneers will still find it an inviting desired destination, but will have a considerably less difficult time getting there, considerably fewer acquiring a very good meal or cup of espresso.
Founded in 1788, Marietta is the oldest town in the Buckeye State. Modern readers will come across a energetic and picturesque river city, but with intriguing traces of background remaining from people pioneer times — and even prior to.
The rivers that introduced those to start with pioneers to the web site are nevertheless inviting. The Rivertrail Bike and Pedestrian Path sales opportunities guests for 4.5 miles along the banking institutions of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers, via downtown Marietta and to a lot of quite parks, interesting sights, historic websites and organizations.
Zanesville and Logan:Working day-excursion spot: Background, festivals await in journeys to Zanesville and Logan
A different good way to examine the spot is aboard the Valley Gem Sternwheeler (www.valleygemsternwheeler.com), a tour boat that gives a wide variety of journeys on each rivers.
River heritage, specially that of the intimate steamboat days, is on display next door to the Valley Gem dock at the Ohio River Museum (which, sure, is on the banking companies of the Muskingum River, but near adequate to the Ohio to listen to a steamboat whistle.)
The museum (www.mariettamuseums.org) incorporates quite a few detailed scale styles of initial steamboats and tells the stories of some of the most fascinating steamboat captains, together with Mary B. Greene, an area indigenous who became the to start with licensed woman steamboat captain on the Ohio or Mississippi rivers in the late 19th century.
Marblehead Lighthouse:Journey: Sailors and site visitors alike discover Marblehead Lighthouse a shining beacon of natural beauty
And website visitors can tour the restored W.P. Snyder, the previous sternwheel towboat in the United States, now docked just exterior the museum.
Marietta also hosts a significant Sternwheel Festival (www.sternwheel.org) every yr, with authentic paddlewheelers browsing from ports near and considerably. This year’s pageant is scheduled Sept. 9-11.
Marietta’s connections to the riverboat era are unquestionably fascinating and assumed-provoking, but just after a appear back again, people will unquestionably be joyful to reenter the 21st century for eating, searching and lodging.
Right away site visitors will uncover several lodges and motels in and about Marietta, which includes the historic riverfront Lafayette Lodge (www.lafayettehotel.com), crafted in 1918 and embellished to remind site visitors of the golden age of riverboats and the charming boutique Hackett Resort (www.GalleyAdelphiaHackett.com).
Hocking Hills:Outside adventures: Hocking Hills give fascinating excursions for adrenaline junkies
Great food items is obtainable at destinations these as the scenic riverfront Levee Residence Bistro (www.leveehousebistro.com) and The Galley at the Hackett Resort and The Gun Area at the Lafayette.
For a superior cup of joe, examine out Jeremiah’s Espresso Dwelling (www.jeremiahscoffeehouse.com). And beer fans really should certainly take a look at the Marietta Brewing Co. brewpub (www.mbcpub.com).
When visitors have wet their whistles and silenced the grumblings in their tummies, they may well locate on their own refreshed adequate to delve a bit much more into Marietta’ illustrious and voluminous past.
Just a block from the Ohio River Museum is the Campus Martius Museum, created on the primary web site of Campus Martius, a blockade made by the very first settlers for protection from the native inhabitants they were being displacing.
The three-tale museum (www.mariettamuseums.org) tells the tale of individuals initially pioneers and the issues they faced.
One wing of the museum surrounds the initial log residence of Rufus Putnam, a Revolutionary War normal who was a town founder. The residence, constructed in 1790 as section of the unique Campus Martius stockade, is just one of the oldest remaining homes in the state.
A further framework on the museum grounds, the Ohio Organization Land Place of work, is even more mature. The office environment, which has a display screen about early land surveying and income, was developed in 1788 and is in the jogging for oldest present building in Ohio.
The museum also delves into the background of the area each right before and soon after the town’s founding, with displays about the first Indian inhabitants as nicely as the 19th and 20th century migrants who came, largely from the South, to function in America’s industrial heartland.
An additional brief walk will take guests to beautiful Mound Cemetery, found, as the identify would counsel, about a massive, 2,000-12 months-previous Adena Indian burial mound. Several of Marietta’s early pioneers — together with far more Groundbreaking War veterans than at any other cemetery — are buried near the historical monument, a tranquil proximity of cultures that the residing, regrettably, were being under no circumstances able to attain.
For more data about the space, stop by www.mariettaohio.org.
Steve Stephens is a freelance vacation author and photographer. E mail him at [email protected].