Travel: Marietta, Ohio's oldest city, blends fascinating history with modern amenities

MARIETTA — The confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio Rivers proved an auspicious location for Ohio’s first enduring pioneer town, built in what was then the wilderness of the Northwest Territory.

Today’s day-trip pioneers will still find it an inviting destination, but will have a much easier time getting there, much less finding a good meal or cup of coffee.

Founded in 1788, Marietta is the oldest city in the Buckeye State. Modern visitors will find a lively and picturesque river town, but with fascinating traces of history remaining from those pioneer days — and even before.

The rivers that brought those first pioneers to the site are still inviting. The Rivertrail Bike and Pedestrian Path leads visitors for 4.5 miles along the banks of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers, through downtown Marietta and to many pretty parks, interesting attractions, historic sites and businesses.

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Another great way to explore the area is aboard the Valley Gem Sternwheeler (www.valleygemsternwheeler.com), a tour boat that offers a variety of trips on both rivers.

River history, especially that of the romantic steamboat days, is on display next door to the Valley Gem dock at the Ohio River Museum (which, yes, is on the banks of the Muskingum River, but close enough to the Ohio to hear a steamboat whistle.)

The museum (www.mariettamuseums.org)  contains many detailed scale models of original steamboats and tells the stories of some of the most fascinating steamboat captains, including Mary B. Greene, an area native who became the first licensed female steamboat captain on the Ohio or Mississippi rivers in the late 19th century.

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And visitors can tour the restored W.P. Snyder, the last sternwheel towboat in the United States, now docked just outside the museum.

Marietta also hosts a large Sternwheel Festival (www.sternwheel.org) each year, with authentic paddlewheelers visiting from ports near and far. This year’s festival is scheduled Sept. 9-11.

Marietta’s connections to the riverboat era are certainly fascinating and thought-provoking, but after a look back, visitors will undoubtedly be happy to reenter the 21st century for dining, shopping and lodging.

Overnight visitors will find many hotels and motels in and around Marietta, including the historic riverfront Lafayette Hotel (www.lafayettehotel.com), built in 1918 and decorated to remind visitors of the golden age of riverboats; and the lovely boutique Hackett Hotel (www.GalleyAdelphiaHackett.com).

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Good food is available at locations such as the scenic riverfront Levee House Bistro (www.leveehousebistro.com) and The Galley at the Hackett Hotel and The Gun Room at the Lafayette.

For a good cup of joe, check out Jeremiah’s Coffee House (www.jeremiahscoffeehouse.com). And beer lovers should certainly visit the Marietta Brewing Co. brewpub (www.mbcpub.com).

Once visitors have wet their whistles and silenced the grumblings in their tummies, they may find themselves refreshed enough to delve a bit more into Marietta’ illustrious and voluminous past.

Just a block from the Ohio River Museum is the Campus Martius Museum, built on the original site of Campus Martius, a blockade constructed by the first settlers for protection from the native inhabitants they were displacing.

The three-story museum (www.mariettamuseums.org)  tells the story of those first pioneers and the challenges they faced.

One wing of the museum surrounds the original log home of Rufus Putnam, a Revolutionary War general who was a town founder. The home, built in 1790 as part of the original Campus Martius stockade, is one of the oldest remaining houses in the state.

Another structure on the museum grounds, the Ohio Company Land Office, is even older. The office, which contains a display about early land surveying and sales, was built in 1788 and is in the running for oldest existing building in Ohio.

The museum also delves into the history of the region both before and after the town’s founding, with displays about the original Indian inhabitants as well as the 19th and 20th century migrants who came, mostly from the South, to work in America’s industrial heartland.

Another short walk takes visitors to lovely Mound Cemetery, located, as the name would suggest, around a large, 2,000-year-old Adena Indian burial mound. Many of Marietta’s early pioneers —  including more Revolutionary War veterans than at any other cemetery —  are buried near the ancient monument, a peaceful proximity of cultures that the living, sadly, were never able to accomplish.

For more information about the area, visit www.mariettaohio.org.

Steve Stephens is a freelance travel writer and photographer. Email him at sjstephensjr@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Marietta, Ohio's oldest city, has both historical and modern features