SR 14 and SR 618 are two major roads running through Parkersburg and US 50 is across the river just to the South.

When Parkersburg was laid out in the late 1700's it was called Newport. However around 1783, the gentleman for whom the town was subsequently named, purchased the land on which the town now sits and the dispute between his heirs and the city fathers of Newport was decided in the first decade of the 19th century in favor of the heirs and the town was renamed. At one time the city was home to plants manufacturing porcelain insulators, iron and steel, derricks and oil field equipment, steam shovels and silk and rayon. The Blennerhassett Museum of Regional History displays archaeological and historical exhibits of the Blennerhassetts and the area.