In this American wilderness they brought into being an establishment such as might have been found in England or on the continent of Europe. The spacious mansion was painted white and the fields surrounding it were neatly inclosed in white post fences. Attached to the house was a formal garden with shrubbery and hedges in the English style and espaliers of peach, apricot, quince, and pear. With stables, barns, overseers’ houses, and quarters for the slaves the settlement made an impressive sight indeed.
No less impressive was the interior of the mansion which was richly furnished from top to bottom. Costly paintings adorned the walls and handsome imported rugs covered the floors.
Margaret Blennerhassett was above average height, well proportioned and graceful. Her eyes were blue and her hair dark brown and, in keeping with the prevailing mode, she wore it in a turban. In England she had enjoyed the benefits of the best education that was to be had by a young woman. She spoke French and Italian fluently and was well versed in Shakespeare’s plays, which she liked to recite. She herself wrote poetry. In spite of these intellectual qualities she delighted also in the rugged out-of-doors life the island afforded. She rode horseback and not infrequently took long walks on the mainland of from ten to twenty miles in a day. Withal she was a good housekeeper and kept an excellent table.
Nature had been less kind to Harman. He was a spare man, standing six feet tall, and his distinguishing feature was a long nose. He was so near-sighted that he was helpless without his eyeglasses, and it was jocularly reported that on the rare occasions when he went hunting he had to take his wife and a servant along to aim the gun! Unlike his wife he was not partial to outdoor exercise, preferring to spend his time with books and engaging in scientific experiments. He was interested in chemistry, electricity, and astronomy. In fact he came to know too much about electricity and its dangerous properties. A thunderstorm so played on his nerves that he had to close the doors and windows and get into bed. In addition to his scholarly talents Blennerhassett was an accomplished musician, playing both the violin and the ’cello.
The Blennerhassetts had two sons whom they named Dominic and Harman. What with their children, their servants, their livestock, their well-appointed house and grounds, and their deep affection for each other they seemed at last, after a somewhat inauspicious start, to have achieved domestic bliss. But, under the surface disturbing forces were at work. After eight long years, life on the island was growing monotonous and the proprietor and his family restless. Even more disturbing, the plantation failed to clear expenses and Blennerhassett saw his fortune gradually wasting away.
Such was the situation when Aaron Burr, on his first trip to the West in 1805, passed down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh in his houseboat. He mentioned in one of his letters to Theodosia at this time that whenever he came upon a likely looking house along the river he would dispatch a note to the owner stating that Mr. Burr, the former Vice-President of the United States, was in the neighborhood and would like to call. He boasted that not once was such a request refused. Naturally Blennerhassett Island did not escape his keen eye and he was duly impressed with its magnificence. He sent his customary note and his request to call was readily granted.
The master was away but the Colonel was cordially received by Mrs. Blennerhassett. It must have been a surprise to Burr to discover in this remote frontier a woman of Margaret Blennerhassett’s breeding and cultivation, which were of a quality little inferior even to Theodosia’s. And surely so polished a man as Burr, and one so capable of making himself fascinating to women, must have been a welcome sight to Margaret who seldom had an opportunity to entertain such congenial company. Burr probably did not discern the financial problem that hung over the Blennerhassetts. On the contrary, the elaborate appurtenances of the estate may readily have misled him into estimating their fortune at a figure much greater than it was in fact. At any rate, his attitude toward the Blennerhassetts indicated that he considered their acquaintance well worth pursuing.
Burr must at some time on this first trip to the West also have encountered Harman, for a correspondence sprang up between them in the course of which Burr suggested several plans by which Blennerhassett might improve his fortune, and the latter asked Burr’s opinion as to the advisability of his moving to Louisiana.
The Colonel was not above using flattery to ingratiate himself with the Irishman. “Your talents and acquirements,” he wrote, “seem to have destined you for something more than vegetable life, and since the first hour of our acquaintance I have considered your seclusion as a fraud on society.” How Blennerhassett’s ears must have burned on reading that high praise from a man of the Colonel’s standing in the great world.
During the last days of August in the following year Colonel Burr landed once more on Blennerhassett Island. This time he was accompanied by a Col. Julien de Pestre, a French émigré who had served both in the French and English armies. De Pestre now held the imposing office of Burr’s chief-of-staff. In attendance also was one Charles Willie, a young German acting in the capacity of Burr’s secretary. The fourth member of the party was Dudley Woodbridge, Blennerhassett’s partner, whom they had picked up at Marietta.