Buckley Island
Buckley Island is an island on the Ohio River in Wood County, West Virginia between Marietta, Ohio and Williamstown, West Virginia. The Interstate 77 bridge over the Ohio crosses the island's western portion. Throughout its history, Buckley Island has also been known as Kerrs Island, Duvall Island, and Meigs Island. The island is a part of the Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge and can only be accessed by boat.
The earliest known reference to the island is a 1770 journal entry by George Washington who was surveying the area at the time. Many of the early settlers of the island experienced trouble with bands of Indians who were hunting down the white settlers. The island changed hands several times throughout the 1700s and 1800s until it was bought by the Buckeye and Eureka Pipeline Company in 1897 who turned the island into an amusement park. A flood in 1907 washed away much of the park. The Buckley family bought the island in 1911 and it remained in their family until it was sold to the Fish and Wildlife Service for $400,000 in 1998.
The Muskingum River empties into the Ohio River just below Buckley Island while the Little Muskingum River empties just above it.
