Belmont County Heritage Museum hosting Ohio Pioneers Exhibit

The Ohio Pioneers traveling exhibit will be free and open to the public at the Belmont County Heritage Museum from Sept. 30 to Oct. 30.

An exhibit about “the dauntless pioneers who overcame incredible hardships to build a community based on ideals that would define our country” is coming to the Belmont County Heritage Museum this fall.

Ohio Pioneers is a colorful traveling exhibit from Marietta College’s Legacy Library. Inspired by the book, The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West, by Pulitzer Prize winning author David McCullough, the exhibit features the history of European exploration and settlement in the Ohio River Valley. The panels describe the Northwest Territory, relationships with Native Americans, pioneer life and the struggle for a free state, among others.

The Pioneers reached No. 1 on The New York Times’ Best Seller list for nonfiction in 2019. It continues in the spotlight this summer, having recently been honored with the 2020 Ohioana Book Award for a work about Ohio or Ohioans.

To further enhance this exhibit, the museum will host programs each Saturday in October with presenters who highlight different topics discussed in the panels. All programs begin at 1 pm. Scheduled programs include:

Oct. 2 – Tom Thomas of the Martins Ferry Historical Society will portray pioneer Ebenezer Martin.

Oct. 9- Belmont County Soil and Water will present Native Plants with examples and know uses.

Oct. 30- Kristin Estle of the Underground Railroad Museum in Flushing will present locations of the UGRR in Belmont County.

The exhibit will be on display at the Belmont County Heritage Museum, 101 E. Main St., St. Clairsville, from September 30 to October 30. Museum hours are Thursday-Saturday, 10 am-4 pm (closed for lunch from 12-1 pm). Admission is free and donations are accepted.

For more information, visit www.belmontcountyheritagemuseum.com, call (740) 298-7020 or e-mail info@visitbelmontcounty.com.