jewel of the Ohio

This one may be a little more familiar to you. You may have learned about this in elementary school or even went on a field trip there. I know I was in the fourth grade when I first heard about Blennerhassett island, we even went on a field trip to visit the island. Of course they didn't teach all of the details in school but I learned more about it over the years. The island sits in the Ohio river, between parkersburg, WV and Belpre, OH.

Parkersburg's most famous residents were Harmon and Margaret Blennerhassett. They were immigrants from Ireland. Many came to America from Ireland in search of work and opportunity but not the Blennerhassetts. Harmon and Margaret were wealthy aristocrats and had other reasons for sailing to America. See, Harmon was Margaret's uncle and obviously everyone in their families disapproved of their marriage. They planned to start over somewhere new where no one knew about their situation. Apparently, they decided on America.

They landed in New York in the late 1700's and bounced around a bit. First to Philadelphia and then Pittsburgh, before finally landing in the Ohio river Valley and settling near Marietta, OH. They bought an island called Backus island in 1798. The island was named for its former owner- Elijah Backus. They made a nice life on the island and had a mansion built, the mansion was completed in 1800. They had a couple of children, a boy they named Harmon,jr and a girl they named Margaret, young Margaret died at age two and was buried on the island but the grave and body was washed away by a flood. They also had an adoped son, his name was Dominic but I couldn't find out his age.

Shortly after the Mansion was built, the couple started to have financial troubles, probably because of their lavish lifestyle. I remember the last time I visited the island (I've been twice) the tour guide said the Blennerhassetts loved to show off their wealth, he said the bright paint that was on the original mansion walls was very expensive for the time, and the oil lamps were also very high class for the day (I believe they used whale oil). So, Harmon gets desperate to regain his fortune. A desperate man is a dangerous man. Another desperate man had heard about Harmon's wealth and sought him out, this man's name was Aaron Burr. Aaron Burr was former VP of the united states but had basically ended his political career by killing Alexander Hamilton in a dual. Mr. Burr had treason on his mind and wanted to start a new country but to do that he needed help from someone with money and power (maybe he didn't know about Harmon's financial troubles)

The interesting thing is Harmon had already done this kind of thing. Back in Ireland, he joined a group called The Secret Society of united Irishmen, which plotted the overthrow of English rule in Ireland

Well, long story short, Burr got Harmon on board with him. President Thomas Jefferson heard about their plans and sent the Virginia Militia, they were both eventually arested. Aaron Burr was tried for treason but was acquitted, Harmon was realeased without a trial.

When Harmon returned to the island, he found it in ruins and was beyond repair. The Milita had ransacked the place. So, he went to meet up with his family, who was waiting on him in Mississippi where they settled for awhile. They moved around a bit before finally returning back to Europe. Their mansion on the island burned down in 1811, but I doubt ther ever found out about it. Apparently, some slaves were still on the island and they accidentally burned it down- thats what I remember the tour guide saying.

Harmon died in England in 1824. After his death, Margaret came back to the US to New York where she petitioned congress for restitution for the Militia destroying their mansion- but to no avail. Margaret died in a poor house in New York City June 16th, 1842.

In the 1980's, the State of West Virginia rebuilt the mansion and in the mid 90's, Margaret and Harmon, Jr 's bodies were returned to the island from NYC. Margaret is said to be West Virginia's first poet. (Though she lived before wv became a state- I guess they meant the first poet in the region)

The island is now a state park.

The big book of West Virginia ghost stories says that in life Margaret said she'd never leave her island paradise and apparently she never did. There have been several accounts over the years of people seeing her ghost (but never Harmon).

My personal belief is thats because Margaret was way more attached to the island than Harmon was.

I asked a woman who works at the museum about this and she told me once a visitor fell asleep reading by the river and when they awoke, all of their books had been moved as if somebody was playing a joke,but no one else was around.

Margaret is often seen waiting along the shoreline for her husband, as she often did in life. Some people have seen her wondering around, perhaps shes looking for her daughter's grave?

People have also claimed to see native American spirits on the island. Not long before Harmon and Margaret came along

(As late as 1767) there was a Delaware Nation village close to where the Blennerhassetts had built their home,

Archaeological evidence suggests.

One claim was about a really tall native american. When

archaeologists excavated the island, they found the body of an abnormally tall native American.

The book also says that claims of slave spirits have slowed down since the return of Margaret's body... Its like they dont wanna be seen by Margaret?

There's a claim in the book that says horses don't like the island, even back in Harmon and Margaret's day. There was even a report of a horse going crazy and running until it hit a tree and breaking its neck. Now, I'm not saying I don't believe this, but they use horses on the island to pull wagons of visitors around nowadays. Like I said, I'm not saying I don't believe it, I mean maybe the horses still hate it? It's not like they can say "no, its ok here now" or something, or maybe there was a presence on the island years ago that has since left?