When The Blennerhassett Museum of Regional History opened its doors on April 30, 1988 it was in response to a long felt need of the citizens of Wood County. For decades they had witnessed the steady loss of their historical heritage through the disappearance of the region’s historical relics for lack of a museum to shelter and exhibit them. Wood County school children wanting to tour an area museum had to go to Marietta, Ohio. The Daughters of American Pioneers log house museum in Parkersburg’s City Park has preserved many artifacts since 1911, but its space and visiting hours are severely limited. The Blennerhassett Museum became the first professionally-operated, public-funded museum in west/central West Virginia.

The Blennerhassett building itself has an interesting past. It was constructed for offices and warehouses by the Starr Grocer Company. Being situated in the heart of Parkersburg’s red-light district, the Red Onion bordello stood, ca. 1910, on the eastern edge of what is today the museum parking lot. The Starr Grocer Company, prospering, doubled the building’s size in the 1 920s, and weathered the Great Depression only to go out of business in the 1940s. Purchased by the Guthrie-Morris-Campbell Company of Charleston in 1947, the structure was sold by them in 1983 to Blennerhassett Island Park which renovated it 1985-1986 through a Federal EDA grant.

The Blennerhassett Museum is a showcase of three floors of priceless history relics and objects of art from the Ohio Valley’s past. Exhibits range from prehistoric Indian tools, jewelry, weapons and household items dating 9000 B.C. to paintings, old clothing, guns and military paraphernalia, furniture belonging to W. Va.'s first governor, automobiles of the 19teens, farm implements, 19th-century jewelry and glassware from 60 to 200 years old. In the 18th/early 19th century case can be found a "burning glass", a "bubby pot", some of the Ohio Valley’s oldest manuscript maps, and a mourning fan objects of yesteryear that now strike us with their quaintness. Blennerhassett relics fill 1/4 a floor and are among the museum’s most valuable acquisitions. The Blennerhassett Museum indeed has something for every historical interest!

Located in a four-story brick building on the corner of Second and Juliana Streets, the museum is only 3 blocks from the Blennerhassett Hotel and 2 short blocks from Point Park from where sternwheelers take visitors on a regular schedule to Blennerhassett Island May through October. Parking is available adjacent to the museum. Come experience the adventure that is the Blennerhassett Museum of Regional History!