Point Park

The Ohio River and its tributaries were, for thousands of years, highways and gathering places for the Shawnee, the Lenape, and other nations whose ancestral homeland this was and whose descendants continue elsewhere today. The point where the Little Kanawha joins the Ohio was a natural meeting and crossing place long before any town stood here.

Parkersburg grew up at this junction, using the rivers to move goods, timber, oil, and gas out into the wider world. Point Park preserves the very tip of that geography as public green space, so visitors can stand at the confluence and watch the smaller river slip into the great one, just as travelers and traders have done for centuries.

The park's biggest draw is that it is the boarding point for rides to Blennerhassett Island, which lies a short way down the Ohio. Sternwheeler boats depart from the riverfront and carry visitors to the island, where a reconstructed Georgian mansion, gardens, and walking paths recall the estate of Harman and Margaret Blennerhassett.

The island's history is worthy of a novel. In the early 1800s it became entangled in the schemes of Aaron Burr, the former vice president accused of plotting to carve out an empire in the West. The estate was abandoned and later burned, and the mansion that stands today is a careful reconstruction, reached by that scenic ride from Point Park.

Beyond serving as a boat landing, Point Park is simply a pleasant place to be beside the water. Walking paths and green space invite a stroll, benches face the river, and the passing barges, boats, and birdlife give the place a steady, restful motion. It anchors the downtown end of Parkersburg's riverfront.

From the park it is an easy walk into Parkersburg's historic downtown, with its old storefronts, and a short trip to the Julia-Ann Square Historic District, one of the largest collections of Victorian homes in the state, built in part on the wealth of the oil and gas boom. The Oil and Gas Museum nearby tells that industrial story.

Spring and summer are the liveliest times at Point Park, when the sternwheeler runs, the riverbank greens up, and festivals and events sometimes fill the waterfront. The open river catches every breeze, making it a fine spot to escape a hot afternoon.

Fall brings cooler air and color to the far bank, and the low, slanting light on the water is lovely. Winter is quiet, the river gray and wide, but a walk to the point still rewards you with the meeting of the two rivers and the long views that first drew people to this place.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.