Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Marietta, Ohio

And now, the rest of the story...
         I know you all are dying to hear about the rest of my vacation, so here it is.  (Try not to get too excited.)  Our last night in Alexandria ended with this beautiful sunset, included here just because I like the photo:

Nice, huh?

On the way home from visiting my son in the Washington, DC, area, we decided to take a bit of a detour and investigate the town of Marietta, Ohio.  It was the first town in the Northwest Territory, back when Ohio was part of that vast, largely unsettled tract of land west of the original colonies, which had just recently become the first 13 states in that newborn nation called The United States of America.  Here's what Marietta's official website says about it:

The City of Marietta was established on April 7, 1788 as the first permanent settlement of the Northwest Territory.
Located at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers, the City of Marietta offers heritage homes, historical parks, monuments and cemeteries, charming shops in our quaint downtown shopping district, museums, trolley tours, and seven miles of paved brick streets.

 The town is really cute, and I loved all the historic buildings and brick streets.

The confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers (Muskingum on the right).

This is the old bridge that used to cross the Muskingum to Fort Harmer.

You can't walk on it any more, for obvious reasons, but they have constructed a walkway beside it so that you can still get to the charming town of Harmer.

I loved the bridge, because of its aged wood and rusted metal beams...


Harmer, like Marietta, is full of beautiful historic homes and little shops...

... and some wonderful old trains.

On the way back we saw a paddle-wheel boat cruising down the river...

... and a dad with two kids in a rowboat...

... and a pretty impressive backflip!

The only thing about Marietta that disappointed me was that most of the shops and antique stores are only open on the weekends.  Sadly, it was Monday... which means I'm going back!

6 comments:

  1. looks like a fab trip and such a cute little town! makes me want to move there!!

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  2. Great day spent in such a charming little town steeped in history. I think the river photos are wonderful...true lazy summer feeling...I can almost hear the back screen door slamming and the laundry drying on line!

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  3. What a great sky....beautifully captured. This town looks so American to me:)...like in the movies :) they should film there.
    I just viewed your collage again from the last post...wonderful composition...I really like it.

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  4. Wow, Sharmon - That's my idea of a great vacation. Such a lovely place and you've done it proud with your photographic eye.

    The Queen Anne house is perfect - just the sort of home I always imagined would be mine... nope... I'm stuck in a doublewide... but I'm making it over from the inside out and one of these days I'll post my progress.

    So glad you stopped by to encourage me!

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  5. what wonderful images of your trip-- especially like the bridge images.

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  6. Thanks for sharing your trip with us!

    -Dean

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