Parkersburg sits on the Ohio River in the far northwest corner of West Virginia, where the Little Kanawha River joins the Ohio. It is a small industrial city with an outsized piece of American history anchored in the river beside it.
The city's signature attraction is Blennerhassett Island, a low wooded island mid-river that was once home to Harman Blennerhassett, an Irish-born aristocrat who made the mistake of backing Aaron Burr's notorious conspiracy. Burr, fleeing the scandal of killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel in 1804, hatched a scheme to carve out an independent nation from the western territories. Blennerhassett's grand mansion was raided and burned by the Virginia militia in 1806. It has since been painstakingly restored and is now a state historical park reachable only by sternwheeler from downtown Parkersburg — a ferry ride that itself feels like a step back in time.
The Blennerhassett Museum on Juliana Street tells the full story of the island and the broader history of the upper Ohio Valley. Together, the museum and island make for a full day out.
Parkersburg lies on I-77, roughly 90 minutes northwest of Charleston and four and a half hours south of Cleveland.