The Parkersburg News and Sentinel
PARKERSBURG — A Charleston company is working on a documentary about Harman and Margaret Blennerhassett.
MotionMasters is raising funds for the project, to be called “The Blennerhassetts,”said Diana Sole-Walko, chief executive officer of the company. The documentary would be ready by next winter if all the money was in hand, otherwise it looks like it will be released in 2021, she said.
“We have to go out and raise the money for the production,” Sole-Walco said.
Harman and Margaret Blennerhassett are the namesakes of Blennerhassett Island in the Ohio River adjacent to Belpre. The wealthy Blennerhassetts came to America in 1796 from Ireland and settled on Blennerhassett Island where they built an opulent home in the midst of the American frontier.
Harman met with Aaron Burr on the island where they allegedly conspired to commit treason. Burr was later acquitted and Harman was released from prison following the acquittal, but the Blennerhassett fortune and lot in life tanked after and they died in destitution.
The documentary will cover all facets of the Blennerhassetts’ life and times, including their lives on the island and their association with Burr, Sole-Walko said. The production company recently interviewed Nancy Isenberg, an historian who wrote a definitive book about Burr, for the documentary, Sole-Walko said.
“It’s really a documentary about the Blennerhassetts,” she said.