McColloch's Leap Monument — Attraction in Wheeling

McColloch St.(Bow) runs below the ridge that Major McColloch was forced over. I’m not sure what the terrain was in 1777, but from the monument on National Road down to the banks of Big Wheeling Creek is currently a steep 400’ decline, a 200 yard sloping grade to a 50’ drop to the creek.

The very idea of just running down that slope is a invitation for a broken neck let alone throwing yourself and mount down a old growth forest barricade. There is little doubt that Major McColloch’s leap was a do or die moment.

Three different tribes the Shawnee, Wyandot and Mingo with the backing of the British made common cause to bar colonial settlements in the Ohio River Valley.

Fort Fincastle’s(Henry) settlement was built in 1774 in what is now Wheeling, WV. It took thirteen years to cross the Ohio River and establish Fort Steuben in 1787. The Ohio/West Virginia river border was the western front of the War for American Independence. Indian raids on homesteads were a fairly...

I know a lot of people don't like graffiti, but I thought it made the monument more interesting. The view from the bottom as well at the top are...

As I kid, I always remembered this as a Wheeling castle. It turns out it is not a castle - but we can all...