Ohio's Oldest City

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marietta College

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Downtown Marietta

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harmar District

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marietta really does feel like the "center" of that whole Parkersburg-Marietta-Vienna area, even though it's smaller than Parkersburg.

Marietta looks gorgeous. I regret never visiting that place when I lived in Ohio. It used to be the state capital, no?

 

I agree it looks like it's stealing Parkersburg's thunder. Parkersburg is really ghetto and heavily destroyed. Its downtown is really bad since a lot of the best buildings were torn down. With that said, Parkersburg did have one nice intact Victorian neighborhood on a hill if I remember correctly (this was back in like 2006, so things could have declined considerably since then). Overall it's a sad city despite its location on that really wide section of the Ohio River. It's just an overall depressing area.

 

I feel bad for West Virginia. Besides Charleston, Morgantown (the Athens of WV), and I guess Huntington, it's a pretty dismal place. It is the heart and soul of Appalachia, so its economy has been depressed for longer than many of the Midwestern and Great Lakes Rust Belt cities. Big job losses and regional population decline got rolling really early there. Though I will say Charleston, West Virginia is still fantastic and arguably the best city its size in the United States. It has a remarkable urban core for a city of 50,000 people.

 

Marietta does look like it has escaped the fate of most smaller Appalachian cities. Ohio certainly has its fair share of depressed, heavily destroyed Appalachian towns (Ironton, Portsmouth, Steubenville, etc.), but Marietta doesn't look like one of them. It looks very intact for an Ohio city.

Great pictures. I drove through here five years ago on a cross country trip and really liked the town. It's also the first place I ever had fried pickles. I get fried pickles anywhere I see them now.

Perhaps the best Marietta tour I've ever seen. You made familiar sights look fresh, and showed me some things I don't recognize -- and I've been to Marietta many, many, many times. What is that building in the first two pictures?

Way better than I was expecting! Looks like a nice town.

Great photos!

What is that first building?

The first two images are the front office of a large industrial complex about a mile from downtown.

Marietta looks gorgeous. I regret never visiting that place when I lived in Ohio. It used to be the state capital, no?

 

I agree it looks like it's stealing Parkersburg's thunder. Parkersburg is really ghetto and heavily destroyed. Its downtown is really bad since a lot of the best buildings were torn down. With that said, Parkersburg did have one nice intact Victorian neighborhood on a hill if I remember correctly (this was back in like 2006, so things could have declined considerably since then). Overall it's a sad city despite its location on that really wide section of the Ohio River. It's just an overall depressing area.

 

I feel bad for West Virginia. Besides Charleston, Morgantown (the Athens of WV), and I guess Huntington, it's a pretty dismal place. It is the heart and soul of Appalachia, so its economy has been depressed for longer than many of the Midwestern and Great Lakes Rust Belt cities. Big job losses and regional population decline got rolling really early there. Though I will say Charleston, West Virginia is still fantastic and arguably the best city its size in the United States. It has a remarkable urban core for a city of 50,000 people.

 

Marietta does look like it has escaped the fate of most smaller Appalachian cities. Ohio certainly has its fair share of depressed, heavily destroyed Appalachian towns (Ironton, Portsmouth, Steubenville, etc.), but Marietta doesn't look like one of them. It looks very intact for an Ohio city.

 

i dk what other businesses they have, but having a nice college certainly helps. there is no major decline with government jobs or stuff like that.

Ink, thank you so much for these fantastic photos.  I have been hoping for an updated photo tour of Marietta, and you have captured it beautifully!