Long Before His Presidency, George Washington Was Surveying Ohio’s Frontier

Long Before His Presidency, George Washington Was Surveying Ohio’s Frontier

Long before he became the first president of the United States, George Washington spent weeks traveling through what would eventually become Ohio, documenting the rivers, forests, wildlife, and fertile land that stretched along the frontier. In October 1770, Washington set out from Fort Pitt—present-day Pittsburgh—on a surveying expedition down the Ohio River. The trip came nearly two decades before Ohio achieved statehood, and six years before …