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Media contacts: Floyd A. Barmann, Site Manager, 740-373-3750, fbarmann@campusmartius.com
For Immediate Release: June 7, 2010
Gallery to Explore Life In A Frontier Fort
Marietta, the State’s oldest community, will become a hub for special programs in the next few years commemorating the 225th anniversary of the founding and development of the Northwest Territory. Campus Martius Museum, in the heart of Marietta, plans to be in the center of it all by offering an extensive series of events and exhibits related to these important anniversaries.
According to the Friends of the Museum, the museum’s governing group, it all begins this summer with the premier of an exhibition titled, Fort Harmar, Sentinel of the Frontier. Slated for opening during the July 4th weekend, the exhibit will explore the life and times of those who constructed and lived in Fort Harmar from 1785 through 1786. The exhibition predates the anniversary of the Fort’s construction which actually began along the Ohio River in the fall of 1785.
Fort Harmar was an important link in a chain of Federal posts along the Ohio River. The unusual, “pentagon shaped” fort was constructed of wood with upright pickets and the backsides of interior buildings forming its exterior walls.
The fort stood on a point where the Ohio and Muskingum rivers converged and the site is now under water. It was built by troops of the First American Regiment. This seven-hundred man unit was the only official army in the service of the United States following the American Revolution. Soldiers were sent to the frontier to construct and garrison over a dozen forts. They protected surveyors as they surveyed the Northwest Territory and safeguarded thousands of pioneers moving down the Ohio River to new homes. In addition, the regiment removed “squatters,” illegal settlers with no claim to land north of the Ohio River. These few soldiers treated with (and in many instances fought) the Indians, spied, mapped, explored, and acted as agents of the government by providing reconnaissance and reports.
Commander of the Regiment, Josiah Harmar believed that the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio rivers offered a strategic point of operations for the new Army and he ordered the First American to build a fort there.
Museum visitors will examine the roles of Native Americans, soldiers and settlers through displays of images, tools, weapons, and clothing. Uniforms, surveyor’s tools, pioneer and Indian clothing, and two authentic cannon from a local private collection are all part of the gallery. A soldier’s tent and “hands-on” children’s material are also in the exhibit.
Segments of the exhibition will be changed over the course of its year-long run. One special display will focus on the story of Gen. J. M. Varnum, a resident of early Marietta and distinguished leader in the American Revolution.
Campus Martius also plans a full schedule of related programming in the course of the exhibition.
Next year, collectors of 18th century Indian and Northwest Territory memorabilia will converge on the museum for a “first-ever” weekend artifact show. Several two-day 18th century experiential camps for youth who wish to become “soldiers” are being planned.
A special weekend camp for teachers is additionally slated. Also in development are programs by Federal scholars and a symposium focusing on the wars of the Old Northwest.
Visitors to the museum over July 2nd and 3rd will be able to actually meet some of the fort’s “characters” as reenactors portray soldiers and civilians who would have populated the fort during the 18th century.
Observances will continue through the 225th anniversary of the Marietta’s founding in 2013
The Fort Harmar exhibit will be followed by one overviewing Campus Martius, a 1788 civilian fortification on the Muskingum less than a mile upstream from the Ohio (on the spot where the museum stands). The impressive structure housed settlers and offices of the Ohio Company of Associates.
For more information call 740-373-3750 or visit the Campus Martius website at www.info@campusmartiusmuseum.org.
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