218 Ten Days in Ohio. 



ample room for a considerable city, beyond the reach of the highest 

 floods. The ground is composed entirely of alluvial materials, and 

 was once evidently the bed of the Muskingum. On this elevated 

 plain, stand those ancient works, (described in the Archasologia 

 Americana,) the interesting monuments of that half civilized race 

 who once peopled the fair valleys of the west, and whose history lies 

 buried beneath their ruins. The name of Marietta, is derived from 

 that of Marie Antoniette, the beautiful but unfortunate queen of 

 France ; and was given in grateful remembrance of her kindness to 

 these U. States, when struggling with poverty and oppression. The 

 town was laid off and settled by the agents of the Ohio Company, in 

 the year 1788, and is the oldest in the state. It contains one thou- 

 sand house lots of one third of an acre each, with wide airy streets 

 and spacious commons. These, the inhabitants have, within a few 

 years, ornamented with many of our most beautiful forest trees, 

 which, with the grassy commons, give it a cool and refreshing aspect 

 during the heats of summer. The principal part of the inhabitants 

 are of New England origin, and still inherit the habits of good order, 

 industry, morality, and love of social intercourse, so common in the 

 land of their forefathers. " Support Religion and Learning," was 

 the motto on one of the first public seals used in the town. The 

 present number of inhabitants is a little short of one thousand five 

 hundred. The public buildings are four houses for worship, a court 

 house, market house, banking house, library building, female acade- 

 my and collegiate institute. The court house, bank, and collegiate 

 institute, are neat specimens of architecture. The library building 

 is a handsome brick edifice, built by the Marietta Library Association. 

 The upper story is occupied as a public hall, by the members of the 

 Lyceum and other societies. The lower story contains the books, 

 and is also intended for a public reading room. Marietta has two 

 public libraries of respectable size. The private dwellings are gen- 

 erally built of brick ; many of them finished with taste and neatness, 

 and embellished with handsome door yards, and gardens of shrub- 

 bery, both of fruits and flowers. It contains stores, mills, a post 

 office, foundery, printing office, boat yard, &.c. he. 



The edifice for the " Collegiate Institute and Western Teacher's 

 Seminary," is built of brick, seventy five feet in length, and forty feet 

 in breadth, four stories high with a basement story, intended for a 

 kitchen and eating rooms. The system of education is connected 

 with that of manual labor. 



