Blennerhassett Island, 2004

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Harman Blennerhassett, a wealthy Irish aristocrat, settled on the wilderness island in 1798, where he built a magnificent mansion. Designed in the Palladian style, the house contained 7,000 square feet of floor space. Its rooms were furnished with furniture purchased in London and Baltimore, oriental carpets, oil paintings, and porcelain made in Paris. The hardware on some of the interior doors was made of silver. Alabaster lamps were suspended from the ceilings by silver chains. A 2 1/3 acre flower garden and two huge lawns surrounded the house. It was one of the most elegant estates in Virginia and was the most beautiful home west of the Alleghenies. In 1806, however, Harman became entangled in a mysterious military enterprise with Aaron Burr. As a result, President Thomas Jefferson accused both men of plotting treason in attempting to establish an empire in the Southwest. Blennnerhassett fled the island, but was captured and put into Virginia State Penitentiary. Although Burr was tried and acquitted and Blennerhassett released from prison, the lives of both men were ruined. The mansion accidentally burned to the ground in 1811, eventually leaving no trace of itself, except for semicircular lines. However, archaeologists rediscovered its foundations in 1973. Through a continuing program of careful historical and architectural research, the mansion has been recreated. Work on furnishing its interior is still in progress. Blennerhassett Island's antiquity spans back to Ice Age hunters 9,000 years ago. Native American tribes lived on the island almost continuously, until white settlers began to flock into the Ohio Valley in the 1780s. Many artifacts and tools dating to these ancient residents of Blennerhassett Island are on display at the Blennerhassett Museum of Regional History in downtown Parkersburg, at 2nd and Juliana streets. Blennerhassett Island is a noteworthy historic location for a variety of other reasons. During the 1760s, the famous Delaware Indian, Nemacolin, made the island his home. In addition, it was visited by many renowned figures including George Rogers Clark, King Charles X of France, Johnny Appleseed, Henry Clay and Walt Whitman. The West Virginia Muzzle Loader Association, of which you must be a member of to attend this event, has been graciously invited to return each year and demonstarte frontier life for the Island's visitors and the local school programs schedule field trips to the Rondezvous every year for a week long event. As in all encampments, there is lots to do and join in on.