File Photo A view of Putnam Street in Marietta with Marietta College in the background and the First Unitarian Church in the foreground. Newsweek has named Marietta the No. 1 small historical town in America. Among other towns on the list were Gettysburg and Shepherdstown, W.Va.

MARIETTA – Newsweek has named Marietta the No. 1 Best Historical Small Town in America.

The Pioneer City was among 10 historical small towns selected by a panel and contributors and then voted on by readers as the best of the best.

“Fantastic news,” Harley Noland, the former owner of the Historic Trolley Tours in Marietta, said. Noland, a city councilman in Marietta, has served on the boards of the Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Washington County Historical Society.

“We have protected our history here in Marietta,” Noland said. “We really have something to see here and it has real value.”

Marietta was founded in 1788, the first organized city in Ohio under the Ordinance of 1787.

File Photo The mound at Mound Cemetery in Marietta. The city has gone to great lengths to preserve its history and is Newsweek’s No. 1 small historical town in America.

“But even before settlers reached this riverboat city, ancient Native American tribes had claimed this land, leaving behind clues of their culture through formations like the Conus Mound, which you can still see today when you’re not snapping photos of historic covered bridges, colonial architecture and 100-year-old shops,” Newsweek said.

The remaining nine cities in order were Vicksburg, Miss., Shepherdstown, W.Va., Solvang, Calif., Leadville, Colo., Mackinac Island, Mich., Castine, Maine, St. Augustine, Fla., Gettysburg, Pa., and Beaufort S.C.

National awareness of Marietta’s history has grown in recent years, partly due to Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough’s 2019 book “The Pioneers” about Marietta’s founding, said Scott Britton, executive director of The Castle Historic House Museum.

“With all of the publicity the David McCullough book detailing some of our original history, it made it more known to the general public across the country,” Britton said. “The vast amount of connections between the settlement of this area and the generations that came after are pretty incredible, absolutely and certainly worthy of discussion on a national scale.”

Marietta is home to museums including The Castle, Campus Martius and the Ohio River Museum that bring the area’s past to life through diverse programming, Britton said. At The Castle, visitors can take part in cemetery tours where costumed interpreters share the stories of early residents or join educational trips to regional landmarks such as Serpent Mound.

File Photo Gen. Rufus Putnam’s house is preserved at the Campus Martius Museum in Marietta that has been named the No. 1 small historical town in the country by Newsweek. Putnam led the expedition of the Ohio Co. to settle Marietta.

“Not only our museum, but others in the area really contributed by telling the history in different ways – hands-on programming with schools and scouts, cemetery tours, food histories, even bus trips that we organize based out of here,” Britton said.

Visiting Marietta is like stepping back in history, Noland said.

“We have brick streets, many old buildings and two historical districts,” Noland said.

As the former owner of the Historic Trolley Tours and the Levee House restaurant, he said visitors have commented for years on how safe and friendly everything seems in Marietta.

“Everyone waves and has that friendly and inviting energy,” Noland said. “It’s a relaxing atmosphere in Marietta.”

Noland said the best way to help preserve that history and feel for future generations is for the city to be careful with its zoning, particularly in the two historic districts, to find more skilled craftsmen to help maintain the historic buildings, which Noland said is happening at the Washington County Career Center, and to have local citizens remain friendly and inviting.

Tourism is a big part of the city’s economy and that a lot of its citizens’ incomes rely on tourism, he said.

“One dollar will be turned over seven times before it leaves,” Noland said. “It has a huge impact on our community.”

Mayor Joshua D. Schlicher also is pleased with the Newsweek designation.

“Marietta is a wonderful little town and to be chosen as No. 1 out of 10 finalists competing with other towns all over the U.S., it is quite the accomplishment,” he said.

Schlicher said his mission as mayor is improvements and making “our community the best it can be.”

“We are investing over $100 million dollars into our town and we are just getting started,” Schlicher said. “There has never been a time like this in our 237 year history.

“Our founders before us gave us a gift and knew what they wanted Marietta to be, it is our appreciation and care that allows us to enjoy our Marietta.”

Contact Gwen Sour at gsour@newsandsentinel.com and Douglas Huxley at dhuxley@newsandsentinel.com