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Campus Martius FeastWritten in 1792 by Anselm Tupper Scroll down to see the story behind the poem. Click HERE to view original documentWhen Savage Nations on their wayTo Pitt--at Marietta layAll Campus Martius did combineTo ask the Chieftains, there to dine-Of ev'ry class--attends them there And thundering cannon rent the airCampus Beaux flock'd […]

   Do you know what you are doing at the exact year, month, day, hour, minute of each day? Thomas Biscoe knew; it was August 11,1883 2:30 p.m. when he took this picture. Biscoe photographed hundreds of scenes around Marietta, often with family.CLICK TO ENLARGEThomas Biscoe Family Picnic, courtesy Marietta College Special Collections     Scan […]

      You may have a vague recollection that a Marietta native was Vice President of the United States. It's true. Charles Gates Dawes of the prominent Dawes family was serving as VP exactly 100 years ago under President Calvin Coolidge. He was an austere-looking dude, smart (Marietta College graduate), and dedicated to public service. Dawes […]

     This is an oft-quoted line from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." A sailor is adrift at sea and runs out of drinking water. Though surrounded by water, he can't drink it because it's salt water. Williamstown WV faced a similar situation on December 3, 1921, when their water supply was shut off. Though […]

      While much has changed from early pioneer days, one thing changes little: nature. Summer gives us nature in full force. August nights in the woods start at dusk with lightning bugs, birds singing, and the plaintive buzzing of seasonal cicadas. After dark there is a din of whirring crickets, tree frogs, and squawking katydids. Recently […]

     The MapCLICK TO ENLARGEMap drawn by Rufus Putnam showing British forces discovered during his reconnaissance mission north of New York City in October 1776. Map image courtesy of Bill Reynolds, retired historian at Campus Martius Museum.     Marietta's founder Rufus Putnam was energetic, creative, and persistent. Give him an impossible […]

    “ ‘Our next misadventure’ came about 11am on December 27, 1935." This was the recollection of Captain E. Clare Carpenter from Meigs County, Ohio. He was then on the crew of the sternwheel towboat ISTHMIAN (try to say it fast) on the Mississippi River. Life on a riverboat could be exhausting, fun, mesmerizing, and dangerous, often all […]

The Fort was built in 1785 on the west bank of the Muskingum River at the Ohio River. It had a pentagonal shape and occupied about 3/4 acre. It was one of several forts built on the upper Ohio River to keep order. Congress planned to sell land in eastern Ohio to new settlers and was having the land surveyed. The soldiers’ mission was to protect […]

 Captain D. L. Wood’s world had been turned upside down. In July, 1863 he had a Civil War desk job as a mustering officer at Camp Marietta (also called "Camp Putnam"). Suddenly he was leading two companies of mostly untrained militia to fortify a river crossing ("ford") at Buffington Island, 40 miles down river. Why?     Marietta has been […]

      Read all about it here, on a single, easy-to-read page - a map full of history facts and features of our "City Beautiful." The web link suggests the map image may have been a postcard. I found this by accident; sometimes history research works that way.  CLICK TO ENLARGE.                  Image […]