Wood County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 84,296, making it West Virginia's fifth-most populous county. Its county seat is Parkersburg. The county was formed in 1798 from the western part of Harrison County and named for James Wood, governor of Virginia from 1796 to 1799.
Harman Blennerhassett was an Anglo-Irish lawyer, a member of the Society of United Irishmen who emigrated in advance of their rebellion in 1798 to become a socially and politically distinguished plantation owner in then-western Virginia. Implicated in the Burr conspiracy, an alleged military plot with Britain to separate the Louisiana Territory from the American Union, he was twice arrested and financially ruined. His last years were spent in England.
Parkersburg is a city in and the county seat of Wood County, West Virginia, United States. Located at the confluence of the Ohio and Little Kanawha rivers, it is the state's fourth-most populous city and the center of the Parkersburg–Vienna metropolitan area. The city's population was 29,749 at the 2020 census, and its metro population was 89,490. The city is about 14 miles (23 km) south of Marietta, Ohio.
In the United States, Corridor D is part of the Appalachian Development Highway System. In Ohio, it follows State Route 32 from the eastern Cincinnati suburbs until a point west of Albany, where it becomes concurrent with U.S. Route 50. After crossing into West Virginia, it follows U.S. Route 50 until the Interstate 79 interchange in Clarksburg.
Hawks Nest State Park is located on 370 acres (150 ha) in Fayette County near Ansted, West Virginia. The park's clifftop overlook along U.S. Route 60 provides a scenic vista of the New River, some 750 feet below. The hydro-electric project tunnel that passes underneath nearby Gauley Mountain was the scene of the Depression-era Hawks Nest Tunnel disaster.
Opened in 1933, the 6,115-acre (2,475 ha) Cacapon Resort State Park is located on the eastern slopes of Cacapon Mountain in Morgan County, West Virginia, USA. Panorama Overlook, at the southern end of the park and 2,320 feet (710 m) above sea level, is the highest point in the park and in Morgan County.
Blennerhassett Island is an island on the Ohio River below the mouth of the Little Kanawha River, near Parkersburg in Wood County, West Virginia, United States.
The West Virginia State Capitol is the seat of government for the U.S. state of West Virginia, and houses the West Virginia Legislature and the office of the Governor of West Virginia. Located in Charleston, West Virginia, the building was dedicated in 1932. Along with the West Virginia Executive Mansion it is part of the West Virginia Capitol Complex, a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The W.H. Bickel Estate is a 2+1⁄2-story stone mansion built between 1928 and 1930 on the outskirts of Parkersburg, West Virginia. The 1,800-square-foot (170 m2) building has a rectangular main section and a wing to the East. The main house is rich with woodwork, including intricately inlaid walnut and maple floors with geometric patterns, wood mantels, partial wainscoting on all three floors, 15 light French doors on the first floor, solid maple arched doors on the second floor, built-in china cabinets, crown molding in all main rooms, and original finish wood casement windows with roll down screens and brass hardware. There are five gas fireplaces with marble or stone hearths in the main house and two staircases, including a circular walnut and maple main staircase. The ceilings are coved on the second and third floors, and the third floor contains a ballroom or “dance hall” stretching twenty eight feet.
Babcock State Park is a state park located along the New River Gorge on 4,127 acres (16.7 km2) wooded in Fayette County, West Virginia. It is located approximately 20 miles away from the New River Gorge Bridge.
The Parkersburg–Belpre Bridge is a four-lane cantilever bridge that connects Parkersburg, West Virginia, to Belpre, Ohio, across the Ohio River. The bridge was completed in 1980. The bridge had been signed U.S. Route 50 (US 50) until June 13, 2008, when that highway was re-routed to the Blennerhassett Island Bridge a few miles to the west, as part of the completion of the Corridor D project around Parkersburg. The American Discovery Trail uses the bridge to cross the Ohio River.
The Parkersburg Bridge crosses the Ohio River between Parkersburg, West Virginia, and Belpre, Ohio. Designed by Jacob Linville, the bridge has 46 spans: 25 deck plate girder, 14 deck truss, 6 through truss, and 1 through plate girder. 50,000 cubic yards (38,000 m3) of stone were used for the 53 piers. The bridge was constructed from May 1869 to January 1871 by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. At the time of its completion, the bridge was reportedly the longest in the world at 7,140 feet (2,180 m).
Parkersburg High School (PHS) is a secondary school located in Parkersburg, West Virginia, United States. It serves grades nine through twelve, and is part of the Wood County School District. As of the 2018-2019 West Virginia Secondary School Activity Commission's high school classifications, the school has 1,739 students and the average classroom size is 25. The Wood County School District has 13,746 students in 29 schools. Its partner in education is DuPont.
Little Beaver State Park is state park in Raleigh County, West Virginia. It is located near Beckley, West Virginia, about 2 miles (3.2 km) south of I-64 at Grandview Road, exit 129A. The park sits on the shores of 18-acre (0.07 km2) Little Beaver Lake.
The Wood County Courthouse is a public building in downtown Parkersburg, West Virginia, in the United States. The courthouse was built in 1899 at a cost of $100,000 in the Richardsonian Romanesque style by local contractors Caldwell & Drake, according to the plans of architect L. W. Thomas of Canton, Ohio. The current courthouse is the fifth to be built in the county replacing one built in 1860. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 for its architectural significance. During his 1912 presidential campaign Theodore Roosevelt stopped in Parkersburg and spoke from the Market street entrance of the courthouse. On 2 July 2020 a new steeple was added to the bell tower replacing one that had been removed in 1952. With the new steeple the courthouse is now the tallest in the state at 164 ft.
Blennerhassett Hotel is a historic hotel located at Parkersburg, Wood County, West Virginia. It opened in 1889 and is in the Queen Anne style. The hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. A full restoration took place in 1986.
St. Francis Xavier Church is a historic church at 532 Market Street in Parkersburg, West Virginia.
George Neale Jr. House, also known as the Pence Building, is a historic home located at Parkersburg, Wood County, West Virginia. Built in 1840, it is a two-story structure with a stone foundation and walls of handmade orange-red brick in the Greek Revival style. The house was converted into law and real estate offices in the 1880s. Additions to the original building were built in 1958 and 1973.
"Oakland," also known as the James M. Stephenson House, is a home located in Parkersburg, Wood County, West Virginia. Although a slaveholder and sympathizing with the Confederacy, Stephenson was also married to the sister of Unionist Arthur Boreman, and allowed then Union Army Col. James B. Steedman to use his grove nearby during the American Civil War. However, Union cavalry units occupied this his mansion for a time nonetheless, and damaged furnishings as well as the home and garden.
Margaret Agnew Blennerhassett was an English-American poet and aristocrat.
Drawing of the Blennerhassett home, circa 1800.
North end of Blennerhassett Island
Drawing from Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography
