Fort Boreman project displayed at courthouse
By BRETT DUNLAP
POSTED: March 28, 2008
PARKERSBURG — A fifth-grader’s social studies project on the history of Fort Boreman Hill was donated to the Wood County Commission to go on display at the courthouse.
Victoria Harper of Worthington School presented the project to the commission at 10 a.m. Thursday.
The 11-year-old put together a display for a social studies fair earlier this month. The project details the aspects of Fort Boreman Hill when it was a military outpost in the 1860s, including a picture of the view from the hill on posterboard, a reproduction of the hill, the hangman’s tree, the scaffolding used in hangings and the pest house where diseases were isolated.
‘‘I thought it was cool to go up there and be able to see everything,’’ Harper said of visiting the park.
Originally, Fort Boreman held 100 soldiers and defended Parkersburg, area oil fields, local railroads and the mouth of the Little Kanawha River, Harper said.
‘‘It is a very historical place,’’ she said. ‘‘There is so much history about West Virginia there.’’
Union soldiers came to the hill, originally known as Mount Logan, in 1861. In 1863, when the state of West Virginia was created, the fort was named Fort Boreman in honor of Parkersburg resident Arthur I. Boreman, the state’s first governor.
Harper said interesting facts she learned in doing the project were that soldiers from the hill took supplies from the Marr family, who lived near what is now Marrtown Road, and a cemetery existed for the pest house, but no one now seems to know where it was.
Harper won first place in the fair at Worthington School and went on to the county competition, where she was given the Mayor’s Award of Artistic Design.
Jim Miracle of the Wood County Historic Landmarks Commission said he had several people tell him about the project and arranged for it to be put on display at the courthouse.
‘‘I hope this will foster a continuing love of history for this girl,’’ he said.
The project will be displayed in the courthouse with artifacts found on the hill.
Harper donated her project to the county in hopes people will look at it and will want to discover more about Fort Boreman and the area’s rich history.
‘‘Then I hope people will become interested in learning more about West Virginia history,’’ she said.
