History Road Trip Photos

A few months ago I posted a few pictures from the National Road Museum in Norwich, OH. On the same day trip, I visited the Ohio River Museum and the Campus Martius Museum in Marietta, Ohio. Marietta was the earliest American settlement in the Ohio territory. Founded in 1788, it was named after the then- Queen of France, Marie Antoinette. Many of the structures built by the town's first settlers are still standing.

A wheelwrights shop in the National Road Museum. Note the creepily realistic mannikin.

Blacksmith's shop in same.

A lady tavern keeper serves some hungry guests.

Zane Gray in his study. The noted western writer pioneered the production of silent Western films in the 1910s.

Wheelhouse of the Tell City. It used to stand in someone's yard.

Interior of the wheelhouse. Note the spokes, which could be climbed on to force the tiller--this before steam-assisted steering gear.

A flat boat, the "arks" of the Ohio River that moved families and their livestock and supplies down river to the frontier. General Green Clay's brigade used these craft to move down the Maumee River for an amphibious assault during the Battle of the Rapids, 5 May 1813.

WP Snyder, a steam powered stern-wheeler. Though it looks old, this stern-wheeler was built in 1918 and retired in the 1950s.

Engineers station on the WP Snyder.

Steam engine. Since the stern wheeler was employed pushing barges all year round, there were plenty of pot bellied stoves in all compartments.

Aft steering gear. Just forward at right is one of the heads.

Pilot's eye view of the river. By the 20th Century the Mississippi was no longer the treacherous, wild river it had been to 19th century riverboat men. Much of the equipment is similar to older steam boats.

Coal fired boilers, amidships. Most of the space on the main deck is taken up by boilers and steam engines.

One of the famous lead plates buried by Celeron de Bienville to lay claim to the Ohio country in 1749.

One of the most interesting artifacts at Campus Martius. Return Jonathan Meigs wore this arm band as a badge of office (like a gorget) as a commissioned officer during the Revolutionary War. Armbands like this are usually associated with Indian leaders.

Chest, hat and sabre belonging to Rufus Putnam as a Revolutionary War officer.

Hawk given by Tecumseh to Thomas Worthington as a gesture of friendship. Worthington entertained both Tecumseh and the men who could be said to have been his mortal enemies, Henry Clay and William Henry Harrison.

Calumet carried by Indian Agent John Johnston when negotiating the removal of the Wyandot Indians, the last organized tribe living in Ohio.

A short musket or musketoon. Interesting because the United States armories did not produce musketoons or carbines until years after the War of 1812.