Blennerhassett Island was first inhabited by Native Americans from the Deleware tribe in the mid-18th century. The island was purchased by Elijah Backus in the 1790s, and it was known by locals as Backus Island. Backus sold a portion of the island to the Blennerhassetts for the construction of their home around 1798.Harman Blennerhassett was a wealthy, Irish aristocrat who attended Trinity College in Dublin and attended law school at King's Inn, London. Harman immigrated to the United States after being ostracized by his family for marrying his niece, Margaret. Blennerhassett and his wife moved from Ireland to New York in 1795 and a few short years later, they began construction on their mansion on the Ohio River. Like George Washington's Mount Vernon, the Blennerhassett mansion was built in a Palladian style, and it contained 7,000 square feet of floor space. The rooms were furnished with British furniture and Parisian porcelain. The lamps which hung from the ceilings were alabaster, and the hardware on the doors was silver. Although Blennerhassett and his wife put in a great deal of hard work and dedication into building such a magnificent home, they fled their home after he became entangled in the Aaron Burr's expedition plans. Blennerhassett opened his island to Burr to hold base there while trying to expand his plan and gave Burr large amounts of money. In 1806, Harmon Blennerhassett and Aaron Burr were accused of working together and planning a scheme to have the westernmost parts of the United States secede from the Union for exploiting the West. However, when rumors crossed the ears of the Federalists, they began to seize Blennerhassett's estate and property on grounds of treason. Blennerhassett fled to Lexington, Kentucky, but he was arrested, and eventually, released. Blennerhassett was then broke and settled on a cotton plantation in Mississippi, but lost all of his money and eventually moved back to Europe and settled in England. He died in 1831. The mansion accidentally burned to the ground in 1811, leaving no trace of what was once there. However, archaeologists rediscovered the foundation of the structure in 1973. Through historical and architectural research, the mansion has been recreated at its original site for visitors to see.The replica of the mansion features a library, parlors, a separate kitchen, and is decorated with period correct furniture, oil paintings and sculptures which give visitors an idea of what the interior of the mansion originally might have looked like.The island is now owned by the state of West Virginia and is operated as a state park. To get to the park, a tourist must ride a sternwheeler down the Ohio River from Parkersburg, WV to the island. This 1.9 mile long boat ride to the island takes approximately twenty minutes. The island closes for inclement weather and is not open during the winter months.

Blennerhassett Island is and island in the middle of the Ohio River, near Parkersburg, West Virginia, named after Harman Blennerhassett and his wife, Margaret Blennerhasset, who were Irish aristocrats who settled there in 1798. President Thomas Jefferson accused Harman Blennerhassett, along with Aaron Burr, of trying to create an empire in the Southwest. The mansion Blennerhassett constructed on the Island burned in 1811. However, its foundation was rediscovered in 1973 and the mansion was recreated through historical and architectural research.

Aaron
Waldo Putnam moved from Connecticut to the area that is&nbsp;now known
as&nbsp;Belpre,&nbsp;Ohio with his father when he was around 21 years
old.&nbsp;Aaron's grandfather was Revolutionary War General Israel&nbsp;Putnam who&nbsp;is best-known today for his efforts in the&nbsp;Battle of Bunker
Hill. Israel's cousin, Rufus Putnam, was part of the Ohio Company and was part
of the first group of Americans of European origin to settle in what is now Marietta, Ohio, which is&nbsp;13 miles upriver from where Aaron and his father established their homes. Putnam's family&nbsp;connection to the Ohio Company
allowed Aaron Waldo&nbsp;Putnam to acquire land&nbsp;across the river from this location in&nbsp;1789.&nbsp;

Aaron Waldo Putnam and his wife
Charlotte built their family home in 1802. The&nbsp;name of the home, Maple
Shade, comes from the maples and the shade the trees created around the house
at the original homesite. The home originally sat on a hill with views of the
Ohio River and had three rooms downstairs and three rooms upstairs. The downstairs had a
living area, dining room and a room that included a trap door for access to the
cellar. The upstairs had two bedrooms and a large room that was used for
entertaining and dancing. There was also a one-room attic that had witches
windows.&nbsp;The home did not have a kitchen as people with means typically constructed a separate structure on their property to reduce heat and the likelihood of a fire spreading and destroying their home.&nbsp;

In 1817, a brick addition was built
onto the back of the home. The addition included a kitchen and more living
quarters for the family. Modern amenities like electricity and running water
were never introduced into the original main part of the house while the
Putnam-Houser family inhabited it. The brick addition did have running water
and electricity introduced when both became available.&nbsp;

After their deaths in 1822, Aaron
and Charlotte's son, William Pitt Putnam, bought&nbsp;the family home for
himself from his siblings. He passed the house down to his daughter, Mary Dana
Putnam-Houser. When she died in 1952, her son Wendall Dana Houser became the
owner of the home.&nbsp;The home and the land the home was on was bought by
Shell Oil in the 1960s.&nbsp;Wendell Dana Houser, known as
Dana, retained the right to live in the home, and he lived
alone&nbsp;there up until his death in 1981.&nbsp;&nbsp;

After Dana's death the home,
excluding the brick addition, was donated and transported by Shell to
Blennerhassett Island in December of 1986. The state of West Virginia began efforts to restore the home&nbsp;1999. With restoration complete and the hope of encouraging both tourism and promoting education,&nbsp;the home was opened to the
public in the summer of 2008.&nbsp;

The Putnam-Houser House, also known as Maple Shade, was constructed in 1802 and moved to Blennerhassett Island by barge in 1986. The home has been restored to match its historic appearance and is open to the public for tours that include historic artifacts from the early 19th century. The home was built for the family of Aaron Waldo Putnam, the grandson of Revolutionary War General Israel Putnam. Prior to its acquisition and move by the state of West Virginia, the home was located on a parcel of land in Belpre on the Ohio side of the river. 

The restored Putnam-Houser House on Blennerhassett Island, 2019.

Maple Shade, Putnam-Houser House

Blennerhassett Mansion was completed in 1800 by Harman and Margaret Blennerhassett. Harmon Blennerhassett came from a wealthy Irish family. Even though his family was Irish, his family lived in parts of England during his childhood. He attended Trinity College in Dublin and was a lawyer for the King’s Inn Courts. He was very interested in the art, music, and the sciences, especially chemistry. In 1794, Harman met and fell in love with Margaret Agnew, his niece who was nine years younger than himself. Their marriage was rejected by their families because it was viewed as incest and sinful. Harman also became part of the Society of United Irishman which deemed him wanted for arrest by the British government. Around this same time, his father died and left him a large sum of money that exceeded one hundred thousand dollars. These three determining factors caused the couple to move to America. After much consideration, the couple decided to come to the Ohio Valley. On January 28, 1799, they purchased land on an island in the Ohio River which came to be known as Blennerhassett Island [1]. Margaret and Harman would have three children while living on the island: two sons, Dominic and Harman, and a daughter, Margaret, who died in infancy. The mansion was built on the upper end of the island. The construction took over 2.5 years and cost at least of half of Harman’s inheritance received from his father. It was about 8,200 square feet of luxury and splendor. The house was filled with the most expensive furnishings, paintings, and possessions. The Blennerhassetts created their own world on this island. They held large parties for locals, had several gardens where they grew a variety of fruits and vegetable, and hunted small game often. The family also operated their own hemp plantation on the island. The island and mansion were together nicknamed “Eden.”Margaret coordinated parties and dinners at the mansion, hosting wealthy and famous visitors from all over the region. She was considered a very worldly woman. Margaret often read to her guests in French, recited Shakespeare, and provided further entertainment through music and dancing. When she moved to Montreal, she published two collections of poetry titled The Deserted Isle (1822) and The Widow of the Rock and Other Poems (1824). This has led to Margaret being considered the first published poet from what is now the state of West Virginia.In 1805, only 5 years after the Blennerhassetts completed their grand mansion, Harman partnered with former Vice-President Aaron Burr on his quest to take the Southwest. Aaron Burr had a plan to conduct treason against the United States by annexing Louisiana and Mexico and establishing his own government. Margaret Blennerhassett was convinced that if Harman helped Burr, he would use all of his talents and become something great. Influenced by his wife, Harman invested the remainder of his money to fund this expedition, including buying boats, weapons, and much more. His island was meant to be a main base of the expedition. Thomas Jefferson was notified of this and requested that Aaron Burr and his followers be punished. The Virginia militia was sent to the Ohio River to seize the Blennerhassetts and their island. Harman escaped and his wife was not on the island when the militia came. The house was heavily damaged.Harman was eventually arrested, tried, and released. When released, he was out of money and had a bad reputation. Margaret and Harman were forced to move from place to place while they tried to rebuild their former fortune. The attempted business ventures in Mississippi and Montreal before finally relocating back to Europe where Harman died in 1831. Margaret returned to the United States in 1842 and attempted to petition Congress for payment from her mansion’s destruction. She won her appeal but died on June 16, 1842, in a poor house in New York City, where her body was buried until her body was relocated to Blennerhassett Island in 1996 [2]. The graves of Margaret and her son, Harman Jr., are located near the reconstructed mansion.The original Blennerhassett mansion burned to the ground in 1811. In 1973, archaeologists unearthed the house’s foundation. West Virginia spent close to one million dollars and eighteen years re-creating the mansion. The reconstructed mansion was built in the same spot as the original foundation, but the ground underneath the new mansion was elevated to lift the home off of the flood plain.  In 1991, the island was opened to the public for tours, and over 50,000 people visits the mansion every year.

The mansion was originally built by Harman Blennerhassett and his wife Margaret, who were wealthy Irish immigrants, in 1800. The original mansion burnt down in a fire in 1911 after it was abandoned by the Blennerhassetts. Visitors to the island can tour a reconstruction of the mansion near its original location by visiting Blennerhassett Island State Park, which is managed and ran by the state of West Virginia.

The Blennerhassett Mansion

Blennerhassett Island is a small island in the middle of the Ohio River close to Parkersburg, WV. 

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Blennerhassett Island Historical State Park

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