(Photo by Art Smith) A navigational buoy marks the upstream end of Blennerhassett Island.

Long before a family named Blennerhassett made an island in the middle of the Ohio River their home, people were living and working on the island a few miles downstream from what is today, Parkersburg.

There is evidence that people were on the island for thousands of years. The Blennerhassett family lived there for less than a decade of that time.

The island has not only changed physically, but how humans use the island has changed over time as well.

When George Washington passed the area in 1770 he noted the cluster of islands soon after passing the “Little Kenhawa” — from his writings it does not appear that he stopped there.

For much of the history of the island was actually a cluster of smaller islands that changed with the river flow until around 1859. First Island, Second Island, Four-Acre Island and Towhead Island merged to form the island we see today. During periods of flooding, it is still possible to see the old channels when they fill with water.

Traders from Pennsylvania recorded trading with native Americans on the island in 1765. The following year a surveyor named Thomas Hutchins provided a description of the island and recorded a cabin belonging to Delaware tribe leader Nemacolin.

By 1773 squatters were farming and living on part of the island, but it wasn’t surveyed completely until 1784. In 1787 the island got what would become a long string of owners when a man named James Heron took possession.

Harman Blennerhassett and his wife Margaret, along with a large number of servants arrived at the island in 1798. When Blennerhassett bought the island it was called Belpre or Backus Island. The family lived in a blockhouse until their mansion was ready to move into in 1800. Farming operations on the island quickly grew until he got involved with Aaron Burr’s plan to take over land of the western Spanish territory in 1806. Farming continued on the island after the family fled, with the elegant mansion being used for storage of harvested hemp. The home burned on March 3, 1811.

The island would continue to be used for farming and other purposes. Including a park called the Blennerhassett Pleasure Ground that included a baseball diamond, boxing ring, shooting gallery, bowling alley, amusement rides and a large dance pavilion. This all changed when the great flood of 1913 wiped the island clean.

A navigational chart from that era provides a lot of information about the island 100 years ago. It shows large sandbars near the island, with just a small passage between the island and the West Virginia mainland. The map indicated that the island was farmed by a variety of people with the ends being covered by woods much the way they are today.

Until the modern dams were in place in the 1960s the river level particularly on the West Virgina side created huge sand bars next to the island.

The sandy area can still be found today at the upstream tip of the island. If you boat over the area, you can see the bottom of the river just a few feet below the surface. It’s a great place to kayak but can be dangerous with a larger boat.

A few years ago, a barge got stuck in the area after getting too close.

In 1960 Harry Sands purchased the entire island and used it to raise corn and cattle. In 1966 it was purchased by Dupont to supply water for their nearby mammoth plastics and chemical operation.

The State of West Virginia leased part of the island in 1978 from Dupont to create the state park that we know today. In 1984 then-Gov. Jay Rockerfeller visited the island to break ground on the reconstructed mansion that is the centerpiece of the park. Covering the event was my first trip to the island. Since then, there have been a few additional buildings added as well as at least one structure moved there by barge.

The island, which most reach by a sternwheeler from Parkersburg, provides a charming afternoon for anyone wanting to experience what life was like at a slightly slower pace. Biking, walking, or horse-drawn wagon rides are your transportation options on the island.

The park operates from May through October, which means that starting soon you can boat on over to the island and explore it much the way people have been doing for eons.

Art Smith is online manager of The Marietta Times. He can be reached at asmith@mariettatimes.com.