Lewis in Steubenville, Ohio

Photo:  Historic Fort Steuben, Public Domain. 

When Captain Lewis and his men arrived at Steubenville, Ohio, the namesake, Fort Steuben, was gone. Built in 1786 to protect the surveyors who had been sent by the Continental Congress to map the Northwest Territory, Fort Steuben sat on a desirable slope of land that drained toward the Ohio River and had hills to the west which formed a natural amphitheater around the perimeter. The small fort was short-lived – it was evacuated in May 1787. A fire consumed the structure in 1790 and it wasn’t rebuilt.

However, a small village grew up around the fort, founded in 1797. So by the time Meriwether Lewis’s keelboat traveled down the Ohio in September 1803, the town was well established. It was near Steubenville where the keelboat again struck a significant riffle in the Ohio and had to be freed by oxen.

A reconstructed Fort Steuben was completed in 1986 and is open for tours and activities. It’s open Monday – Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. You’ll also find nearby the 1801 Federal Land Office, the Herb Garden, the Archaeology Site at Historic Fort Steuben, and the Visitor Center which includes information on Lewis and Clark’s time in the area.