Description: The Mound Cemetery in Washington County. Bathsheba Rouse Greene and her husband are buried in the Cemetery. Bathsheba, the daughter of John Rouse and Rebecca Barker, is a Mayflower descendant. She was the first school teacher in Ohio and the Northwest Territory Her block house school was in Farmers' Castle, Belpre Ohio. She was married to Richard Greene and taught school both before and after her marriage. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06889
Subjects: Farmers' Castle; Marietta (Ohio); Washington County (Ohio); Northwest Territory--History
Places: Belpre (Ohio); Washington County (Ohio); Marietta (Ohio); Washington County (Ohio)
 

Description: This is a photograph of students in a classroom at Belpre School in Belpre, Ohio, which shows a teacher helping a student in the back of the class, with a note on the reverse which reads "Belpre School, Belpre, School reconstruction." This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B12F06_002_001
Subjects: Belpre (Ohio)--History; Schools--Ohio; Education; Students; Classrooms
Places: Belpre (Ohio); Washington County (Ohio)
 

Description: Oil painting showing Dr. William Gleason (sometimes spelled Glysson) at a patient's bedside. Gleason is taking the pulse of the patient, who is shown only as a hand extended through the bedcurtains of a tall-post bed. The doctor sits in a straight-leg, Chippendale-style chair and holds an ivory-handled walking stick in his right hand. An unusual detail is the inclusion of a spur on Gleason's boot, implying that he is on a "house call." Artist Winthrop Chandler created the painting in Woodstock, Connecticut, around 1785, one of a pair of paintings made at that time. The other is a portrait of Mary Kidder Gleason and her daughter Bethia Pitt Putnam Tupper. Winthrop Chandler is thought to be the brother of Mrs. Mary Kidder Gleason, wife of Dr. William Gleason (1750-1793). Chandler's wife was also named Mary Gleason, and was presumably the sister of Dr. William Gleason. Mary Kidder Gleason moved to Ohio in 1800, at which time the portraits were reportedly brought to the Putnam House in Belpre, Ohio, where they hung for many years. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: H27065
Subjects: Chandler, Winthrop, 1747-1790; Artists; Medicine--History; Paintings
Places: Connecticut; Belpre (Ohio); Washington County (Ohio)
 

Description: This lithograph depicts Farmer's Castle in Belpre, Ohio, a fortification built in 1791 by white settlers during conflicts with the Native American tribes. The image shows a dozen or so block houses made of logs; the entire settlement is surrounded by a picket fence ten feet high. A boat and a canoe are tied up on the bank of the Ohio River. The lithograph was first published in 1848 in Samuel Prescott Hildreth's book "Pioneer History: Being an Account of the First Examinations of the Ohio Valley, and the Early Settlement of the Northwest Territory; Chiefly from Original Manuscripts" (Cincinnati: H. W. Derby and Co., 1848. Farmer's Castle was the birthplace of William Pitt Putnam (1792-1871), grandson of Revolutionary War General Israel Putnam. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05863
Subjects: Ohio History--Settlement and Early Statehood; Farmers' Castle; Forts & fortifications
Places: Belpre (Ohio); Washington County (Ohio)
 

Description: Devol's Floating Mill in Belpre. In 1791, Captain Jonathan Devol, upon a proposal from Griffin Greene, designed and built a floating grain mill, which was erected on two boats and anchored within several yards of the Ohio River shore. This water powered mill was much more convenient than the usual drudgery of running a mill with simply sheer manpower. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06825
Subjects: Mills and mill-work--Ohio; Ohio Economy--Agriculture; Washington County (Ohio)
Places: Belpre (Ohio); Washington County (Ohio); Ohio
 

Description: Photographic reproduction of Mrs. Gleason and Her Daughter, a 1785 painting by Winthrop Chandler (1747-1790). This is one of a pair of paintings painted in the Woodstock, Connecticut area by Chandler, who is thought to be the brother of the eponymous Mrs. Gleason. Winthrop Chandler's wife was named Mary Gleason. She came to Ohio in 1800, at which time the portraits were reportedly brought to to the Putnam House in Belpre, Ohio, where they hung for many years. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04650
Subjects: Women--Ohio; Ohio History--Settlement and Early Statehood
Places: Woodstock (Connecticut)
 

Description: This photographic reproduction of an engraving depicts the Blennerhassett Mansion, home of lawyer, planter, and politician Harman Blennerhassett (1765-1831). The artist who created the original pencil sketch in 1804 was an unknown Frenchman. The mansion achieved notoriety for being the headquarters of the so-called Burr Conspiracy, an attempt by Aaron Burr, former vice president of the United States, to aid the establish of a second empire in the Southwest. As depicted here, the mansion was a two-story structure with a curved, one-story wing extending from both sides. The property is lined with mature trees and fencing. A group of farm animals (cattle) are grazing opposite the walkway that runs parallel to the house. Barely visible in the lower right corner of the illustration is the name of one of New York’s largest engraving firms, Lossing and Barritt. In 1797, Blennerhassett, a wealthy Irish-born aristocrat, moved with his wife to Marietta, Ohio, where they purchased 174 acres of land on an island in the Ohio River. The land formerly belonged to George Washington. The island is located near Belpre, Ohio, and Parkersburg, West Virginia. The Blennerhassetts intended to make the island their home. During their first years on the island, the Blennerhassetts lived in a blockhouse. In 1800, they moved into a mansion, where the couple lived the life of the wealthy. The Blennerhasetts were well known for their hospitality, and many travelers down the Ohio River stopped at the couple’s home. Their most famous guest was Burr. In 1805 and 1806, the Blennerhassetts assisted Burr in his scheme to break away the western part of the United States to form a new country that he would lead. The federal government heard rumors of the uprising and sent a detachment of Virginia militia to seize the Blennerhassetts' island. Harman Blennerhassett was in hiding; his wife was away in Marietta. When she returned, she discovered that the militiamen had ransacked the home, and she fled with her three children. Her husband was arrested a few weeks later, but he quickly gained his release. The Blennerhassetts briefly returned to their mansion, but now destitute, they sought their fortunes in Mississippi. Their former island home, now under new ownership, burned in 1811. During the 1980s the mansion was reconstructed on its original foundations. The island is now a West Virginia state park. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05828
Subjects: Blennerhassett Island (W. Va.); Blennerhassett, Harman, 1765-1831; Burr, Aaron, 1756-1836; Burr Conspiracy, 1805-1807; Ohio History--Settlement and Early Statehood
Places: Blennerhassett Island (West Virginia)
 

Description: The caption reads: "Grindstones - Constitution, Ohio near Marietta Washington County." The Constitution Grindstone Company was located about six miles south of Marietta and five miles north of Belpre in a rural area called Constitution. The company produced about 90 percent of the heavy stone grinding wheels nationwide. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B07F10_015_1
Subjects: Industry; Marietta (Ohio); Washington County (Ohio); Grindstones
Places: Marietta (Ohio); Washington County (Ohio)