You have reached the town of Marietta, Ohio. It was the first settlement in the Northwest Territory, founded in 1788 by The Ohio Company of Associates, a group of Revolutionary War
Veterans led by General Rufus Putnam. These 48 New Englanders named the town Marietta after Queen Marie-Antoinette, as her country of France
was instrumental in the United States's victory in the Revolutionary War. As of 2020, Putnam's house still stands, protected in the walls
of the Ohio River Museum. Originally, this town was inhabited by Native American tribes such as the Mingo, Shawnee, and Delaware. Some of the
Native American mounds were left intact, but by and large, the Settlers simply pushed out the Natives and took the land for themselves. In terms of location,
Marietta was located along the Ohio River, and since railraods had not come about by this time, Marietta grew rapidly as a trading center both as a part of the
Northwest territory, and later on, as the state of Ohio. In fact, it had grown so much that it lobbied to become the first capital city of Ohio when applying for statehood, but lost.
However, it still remained a large center for trade and commerce, and still served as the most common method of entering the state of Ohio. This was amplified in 1811, when steam-boats became common.
The entire county boomed with setters, ship-building, and commerce (information courtesy of mariettaohio.org,
image courtesy of Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant) / CC BY-SA).
On top of that, Marietta was an abolitionist town, as many were in Ohio, and helped slaves escape to Canada, where they would be safe from slave catchers.
It is not known what buildings in Marietta were stops on the railroad, seeing as secrecy was one of if not the most essential part of the Underground Railroad. That said,
The Levee House hotel is largely believed to have been a stop on the Railroad. This building still stands as of 2020, though it has closed for business. However, The Anchorage,
another house believed to have been a stop on the path to freedom, is still open for visitors. While there is nothing to definitely prove whether either of these buildings were in
fact stops, The Anchorage especially has several clues point to this as being a distinct possibility. To begin, the hosue was built by Douglas Putnam, who's wife Eliza was a devout abolitionist,
as well as very involved in the design of the building. And it is some of these design aspects which lead to belief that this was a stop on the Underground Railroad. First, the house
had a large system of tunnels in the basement, which lead to surrounding hillsides, even extending to the riverbank, where slaves could have potentially entered from Kentucky or Virginia.
This is further supported by the simple fact that there seems to be no other possible use for such an elaborate system of tunnels. Second, there is a small room directly underneath the kitchen.
The only entrance to this room was through a small and concealed opening. While this could have simply been storage space, the concealment of the room, the size, and the fact that the house
was designed in part by a massive abolitionist leads us to safely assume that this was used to hide runaway slaves so slave catchers would not find them while searching the house
(information courtesy of guideposts.org,
image courtesy of Roseohioresident / CC BY-SA).
To further explore Marietta, click here Pedaling for Parkinsons claims no affiliation with Google Street View
