Blennerhassett Museum of Regional History — Attraction in Parkersburg

Parking is in a small reserved lot on 2nd Street between Julianna St. and Ann St. under the Hwy-68 off-ramp. There's a 7-foot maximum clearance bar at the entrance to the lot, so no tall vehicles allowed.

The museum itself is a true gem of local history, with everything from extensive collections of Indian artifacts to cars, furniture, portrait painting, and steamboat memorabilia. Start in the basement with the video (a fact they neglected to tell me), then tour the first and second floors. My personal favorite was the second floor displays with the model boats and pictures of the local riverboat history.

Highly recommend stopping here. If you're also going over to the island, tour the museum afterwards. It'll be more meaningful and put everyone into a better perspective. There's also a wonderful gift shop with lots of really great items.

If you tour the the museum as well as take the riverboat ride to the island for the mansion tour and wagon ride expect to spend about four...

Interesting collections of local history and the place to buy tickets to the island. There is a sizable collection of arrowheads. Perhaps the most interesting to a non-local would be the Aaron Burr connection. Burr planned his conspiracies for treason on the nearby island. The museum has a copy of a copy of his death mask and two reproduction pistols from his Hamilton duel. Otherwise most items represent life in Parkersburg throughout time. There's few places to see in Parkersburg so something like this is necessary to fill a weekend. Note: Parking can be difficult, make sure you don't park in any space with a number to avoid...

We took a two day trip to Marietta & Parkersburg WV & it all started with reading David McCullough 's book, "The Pioneers" which is about how the Northwest Territories were settled after the Revolutionary War. The book opened up an understanding of who these people were & how much they sacrificed & worked. Otherwise, it's just another historical site & you walk away with boredom. The Blennerhasset Museum was excellent. I would highly recommend visiting there as well as Blennerhasset Island. There are more historical places to visit as well in Marrietta. Our guide Sandy...