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If you travel out of the area and someone asks you where you are from, you of course tell them Marietta. Shortly after that you begin the game of explaining where Marietta is. Ohio they normally get, then the person inevitably starts naming Ohio big cities. Are you near Columbus? No. How about Cincinnati? Nope. Cleveland? No, we are not near there either. I normally tell people to draw a line due south from Cleveland or due east from Cincinnati until they run out of state and that is where we are from.
We are not alone in being from Marietta. There are 13 communities around the country where people call Marietta home. We are the second largest. Marietta, Ga., is near a big city (Atlanta) so it is a lot larger than our Marietta. Most of the others are tiny. One is even a ghost town.
I have been to just one other Marietta, I took a detour on the way to the beach several years ago so that I could pass through Marietta, N.C.
Because we now have things like Google Earth and online encyclopedias, it is possible to take a quick trip around the country and take a look at all the Mariettas.
Marietta, Ga. A suburb of Atlanta, this is the biggest Marietta of all. Unlike our city, it was not named after royalty but was named in honor of Mary Cobb, the wife Thomas Willis Cobb, who was a judge and who Cobb County is named for. Marietta is the county seat of Cobb County. The town was laid out in 1833. The city was the first one burned during General Sherman's march to the sea during the Civil War.
The population is roughly four times the size of our Marietta. The Marietta Daily Journal publishes there. On at least one occasion The Marietta Daily Times has gotten shipments intended for the newspaper 594 miles south. I remember one very unhappy truck driver when I told him he was in the wrong part of the country.
Marietta, Ill. This is a tiny village of around 100 people located in Fulton County. The community is so small that Main Street is one lane. It has declined in population since the 1950s.
Marietta, Ind. The village once set near a rail line that has long since been removed. One of the few streets in town is however named Railroad Street. The village sits near the Big Blue River, which if viewed online looks as though it should have been called Shallow Brown Creek. The only business in town appears to be a pipeline company. The Shelby County community is home to around 500 people.
Marietta, Kan. The village was named for Marietta Mann when it was laid out as a railroad town for the Union Pacific in 1888. Early businesses were dedicated to shipping facilities to send grains and livestock to the market. The community today seems to still be devoted to getting agricultural goods to market. The largest structure is a huge grain elevator. The railroad, and most of the people, appear to have left long ago. The community also sits along a river called the Big Blue River. Like the one in Indiana, it is neither big, nor blue.
Marietta, Minnesota. A small farming community with around 160 people, this Marietta was reportedly named for our Marietta by a group of people from here that helped to settle the community in 1884. The town is on the western border of Minnesota in the southern part of the state. Located at a crossroad in the middle of farmland, the community contains several churches, a bank and an American Legion.
Marietta, Miss. Located in the northeast corner of the state, the community of less than 300 people is tiny, but it does have a Marietta Elementary School.
Marietta, Nev. This Marietta did not make it. It is a ghost town. All that remains are a few walls of buildings and a cemetery. The town once boasted 13 saloons and was once a mining town for borax and salt. The town started to fade in the 1890s. It is now part of the Wild Burro Range and is home to about 80 burros. The range is the only one in the United States. Marietta, N.Y. Just north of Otisco Lake along New York 174, this Marietta is really just a cluster of homes. It is big enough to have a post office, and a ZIP code. Welcome to the 13110.
Marietta, N.C. The one other Marietta that I have visited, this is one of the small ones with just 175 people. Like our Marietta, it sits on a state border, in this case with South Carolina.
Marietta, Okla. "The gateway to Lake County," this Marietta is big enough to be called a city and has more than 2,000 residents. It was named for Marietta Love Washington, the wife of the first postmaster, Jerry Washington in 1887. The largest business in town appears to be a distribution center for Dollar Tree. The town sits next to Interstate 35.
Marietta, Pa. Actually older than its Ohio cousin, the Marietta in Pennsylvania was established in 1727 and named after the wives of two of its founders. Mary Cook and Etta Anderson. Like our Marietta, this one is also a river town, sitting on the north side of the Susquehanna River. Like our Marietta, this one has a lovely waterfront trail for its residents to enjoy. The city in Lancaster County has around 2,600 people in it.
Marietta, S.C. Tracing its roots to 1840. This Marietta was named after Mary Louisa Williams, the wife of the founder. In 1927 The Slater Mills was developed nearby. The community of Slater quickly grew around the mill and Slater and Marietta somewhat merged into one area. They both, however, have their own post offices. The population of Slater-Marietta today is just over 2,000. The mill in Slater produced many different types of material, including the cloth for the space suits for the moon landings that began in 1969.
Marietta, Texas, is a sleepy little community on the eastern edge of the state. The main crossroads of the town has a general store, a lodge hall and a post office. All of them have benches out front sponsored by dentists and lawyers. On the day the Google car drove by a few old timers in cowboy hats were passing the day on a bench at the Marietta City Building. The community has a population of just over 100 people. Several online sources reported that a cult named Profundity Yours was planning on taking over the town and bringing 144,000 refugees to town. The cult is led by Linda McGillis, who claims to be one of the highest-ranking commanders of the Intergalactic Federations of Worlds. Don't believe everything you read on the internet. Marietta, Wisc., is really just a farming community. More like an Ohio township, it covers 48 square miles but has just over 500 people. For comparison, Marietta, Ohio, is 8.75 square miles. The Wisconsin River flows along the southern edge of it.
Since our Marietta has been billed as the "Start of It All" for decades, I always assumed our Marietta was the inspiration for the others. With one exception, it appears that I might have been wrong. Most were in fact named for the wives of the founders. Smart move gentlemen, smart move.
Art Smith is online manager of The Times, he can be reached at asmith@mariettatimes.com