The Washington County Historical Society held an open house this weekend at the Anchorage in Marietta to show the public all the work that has been done in retoring the historical home and what still needs to be accomplished. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

MARIETTA — People got a chance over the weekend to come and see all of the work that has been done to the historic Anchorage in Marietta.

Around 400 people visited the historic home, at 424 George St., on Saturday and Sunday during a special open house event to let the community see some of the renovation work being done and show what still needs to be accomplished.

“We wanted to invite people in to show them what we have been doing over the last six months,” said Stuart Diamond, president of the Washington County Historical Society.

A similar event was held last year at this time at the Fearing House at the corner of Gilman and Maple with a good turnout from the public.

“Now that things have been going on here (at the Anchorage), we wanted people to know what we have done with the roof,” Diamond said. “The main section of the roof has been totally rebuilt.”

Hailee Rohde, of Marietta, works on an old fashioned Christmas ornament during an open house event at the Anchorage in Marietta. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

The roof project was accomplished mostly through donations.

“What started out looking like a $550,000 project, we got done for $125,000,” Diamond said. “A lot of that is because lumber was donated, time was donated and the equipment we needed to get the workers up on the roof was donated as well.

“Once the ball got rolling, a lot of folks donated time, materials and money. It has been great.”

That community involvement also prompted Diamond to do the open house to allow people to come in and see what was going on.

The WCHS eventually wants to make the Anchorage its permanent headquarters with offices and their archives on site and to have the home open all year.

An open house event was hosted at the Anchorage in Marietta over the weekend. Around 400 people visited the historical home through both days to see renovation work that has been completed and to see what still needs to be done. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

Douglas Putnam built the house for his first wife Eliza. The Putnams moved into the home in 1859 after several years of quarrying the sandstone from the bank behind the structure. The home was also a nursing home for a number of years.

Diamond wants people to remember its history in the area.

“This was ‘the’ house on the west side,” he said. “At one time the people of Marietta called this home, ‘The Gem of Marietta.’

“There is a lot of history here. It is an important structure. It is one of the few Italianettes left in Marietta. There aren’t many left.”

A number of historical homes in Marietta have been lost to time.

Visitors got to see the upstairs of the Anchorage in Marietta to see whare restoration work is underway. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

Officials hope to eventually be able to have a variety of activities at the home, once the full restoration work is complete.

“This would be a great place for teas,” Diamond said.

In addition to the roof, work has also been done to replace the floor joyces in the northwest section of the house, Diamond said. The floor, which had dropped about eight inches, has since been raised back up to its original level. Since Ohio 7 was put in, they get a lot of water runoff and they will be working on a new project, starting in Spring 2017, to reroute that water, Diamond added.

Plans are also in place to renovate the servants’ quarters in order to create workspace so the society can get out of the dining room and breakfast room areas and renovations can be planned for those areas.

The work on the servants’ quarters is already underway with an expected completion date sometime in Summer 2017.

After the first of the year, Diamond said he plans to have contractors and others in to see if he can generate interest in them to “Adopt-A-Room.”

“We have already had interest from some of the local contractors that they would be interested in picking a room and working on it,” he said.

Renovations are also planned at the Fearing House with gutter repair, reconditioning window sills, recaulking the glass and having the entire house repainted. The society has been working on some electrical issues that have been there since the flood of 2007.

People who visited the Anchorage have been impressed with what they have seen.

Marie and Rick Ralston, of the Marietta area, had not been to the Anchorage in a long time. They had family who were involved in some of the early work when the historical society took it over.

“I just wanted to see what was going on,” Marie said. “It is really exciting to see.

“They have really made a lot of progress.”

The Ralstons were impressed with the work done to the floors.

“We haven’t been here in years,” Rick said. “It is amazing what they have done in the last 15-20 years.”

Stacy and Hailee Rohde, of Marietta, saw a listing for the event on Facebook and wanted to come and see what had been done.

“We wanted a chance to come here and see what the inside looked like,” Stacy said.

She had only been to the home once before during a haunted tour around Halloween.

“I wanted to see it with the lights on,” Stacy said. “I wanted to see what they were able to do with it.

“It has been amazing. I can’t wait to see what they will do and what they will come up with.”

Prudence Burgardt, of Peddler of Dreams, which conducts art classes for children, came in and was helping visitors make old fashioned Christmas ornaments. She was hoping to get people involved with the home, volunteer and help with some of the things that needed to be done there.

“We got to get the young kids involved and get them interested in the history of Marietta,” she said.

Burgardt is apart of the Knox family who had the Knox Boatyard at one time. Her father, John Knox, was involved with Marietta City Schools and was interested in the history of the area. He had brought her to the home on numerous occassions.

After returning to the area a few years ago, Burgardt joined an organization that was working on the restoration of the Anchorage. With a lot of work done outside, the time has come where more work can be done to the inside of the home which is right up her alley.

“We have a chance to really make some improvements,” Burgardt said. “The house is in good shape.

“I am ready to do it.”

She also believes the space can be utilized by the town for a variety of events.

“We have enough houses falling down,” Burgardt said. “This is a house that has a chance to be restored.

“It would be a shame not to care about it.”

Diamond has been impressed with the reactions the house got throughout the weekend.

“I have seen a lot of smiles,” he said.

Many people were appreciative that someone was working to restore the historic home.

“We have had many young people come in who said they grew up here in Marietta, but have never been in here,” Diamond said. “Now that they have had a chance to look at it, hopefully we can get some young blood involved.”