Passengers on the front deck of the Island Belle as it heads to Blennerhassett Island. The island opens for the season on Friday. (Photo provided)

PARKERSBURG – Blennerhassett Island Historic State Park will open its 2026 season on Friday,

“We’re just excited that the island will come back to life with all the school groups and the laughter of all the people,” Craig Pyles, superintendent of the state park, said.

Blennerhassett Island is in the Ohio River between Belpre and Parkersburg and was where Harman and Margaret Blennerhassett, wealthy Irish aristocrats, settled and built a mansion in the western frontier wilderness of the young United States.

Blennerhassett became involved with Aaron Burr, the third vice president of the country who killed Alexander Hamilton, and his scheme to create a new country. The plot was foiled and the Blennerhassetts left the island, the mansion was later destroyed in a fire and the Blennerhassetts died in destitution.

Visited by more than 40,000 people each year, the island is accessible by a sternwheeler that leaves and returns from the dock at Point Park.

Superintendent Craig Pyles of the Blennerhassett Island Historical State Park with a painting in the Blennerhassett Museum that once hung in the Chancellor Hotel where it had a Blennerhassett Room. Blennerhassett Island opens for the 2026 season on Friday. (Photo by Jess Mancini)

Hours for the park from May 1 to Sept. 7 are 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday from Sept. 8 to Sept. 30 and 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thursday to Sunday from Sept. 8 to Sept. 30. The sternwheeler leaves Point Park on the hour and returns on the half hour.

The last boat leaves the island at 3 p.m.

Blennerhassett Island will be open on Memorial Day and Labor Day.

The museum is open year-round and open on Mondays by appointment only. It will be closed on Thanksgiving Day and from Dec. 22 to Jan. 1.

From May 1 to Sept. 7, the museum will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday from Sept. 8 to Oct. 31, and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Nov. 1 to April 30.

The 2026 admission rates are:

* Package ticket for the museum, boat, mansion and wagon ride, $33 for adults and $23 for children age 3-12. Tickets sold at the museum.

* Museum, $4 for adults and $2 for children age 3-12.

* Sternwheeler rides to the island, $12 for adults and $8 for children age 3-12. Tickets are sold at the museum, Point Park and the Convention and Visitors Bureau Welcome Center at the floodwall at point park.

* Guided mansion tour, $5 adults and $3 for children age 3-12. Tickets sold at the island ticket booth.

* Narrated horse drawn wagon rides, $13 adults and $11 for children age 3-12. Tickets sold at the island ticket booth.

* Bike rentals on the island, $2 for a half hour, $4 for an hour. Riders 15 and under must wear a helmet.

Docents wearing period costumes head the tours in the mansion. Among the special events each year is Mansion by Candlelight, held two nights only in October.

Go to the Blennerhassett Museum or call (304) 420-4800 for more information. Parking is available in the lot at 113 Ann St. under the bridge overpass, at Point Park where there is limited three-hour parking. Dedicated parking for the island is available adjacent to the museum under the U.S. 50 ramps.

Blennerhassett Island is organizing a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the nation with the National Society Daughter of the American Revolution Blennerhassett Chapter on June 20, Pyles said. June 20 is West Virginia Day marking when West Virginia became a state in 1863 and is celebrated with cake at the island.