{"nrhp_refnum":"70000512","name":"Big Bottom Massacre Site","other_names":["Big Bottom Massacre Site State Memorial"],"category":"site","location":{"address":"1 mi. SE of Stockport on OH 266","address_restricted":false,"city":"Stockport","county":"Morgan County","state":"OH","lat":39.532859021000036,"lon":-81.77375605599997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1970-11-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 3.3-acre memorial site about one mile southeast of Stockport on the Muskingum River, Morgan County, Ohio, where a pioneer blockhouse settlement stood in 1790-91. It is owned by the Ohio Historical Society and operated as a state memorial park.","why_significant":"The site marks the January 2, 1791 Indian attack on the Big Bottom settlement, in which 12 settlers in the blockhouse were killed. The nomination argues the attack alerted settlers to the danger and served as the beginning of the Indian Wars in the Old Northwest. It prompted downriver settlements such as Beverly and Marietta to strengthen their defenses.","narrative":"Big Bottom Massacre Site is a small memorial park on the Muskingum River, about a mile southeast of Stockport in Morgan County, Ohio. In autumn 1790 a group of 36 men, mostly young and unmarried, began a settlement here under the Ohio Company's donation-land policy. They built a large beech-log blockhouse but left it poorly chinked, without palisades or a regular system of defense, despite advice to wait until spring. Attackers who spotted the defenseless settlement divided into two parties on January 2, 1791, killing twelve people in the blockhouse and taking others prisoner before burning the structure. News of the attack sent the settlements at Beverly and Marietta scrambling to strengthen their blockhouses and palisades. The nomination treats the event as the beginning of the Indian Wars in the Old Northwest. Nothing of the original buildings survives. The Ohio Historical Society acquired the land in 1905, 1934 and 1935 and placed a stone monument there.","period_of_significance":"18th Century (specific date January 2, 1791)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"No trace of the blockhouse or cabin remains; the Ohio Historical Society acquired the land in 1905, 1934 and 1935, erected a stone monument, and operates it as a memorial park.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:09.928831-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/70000512.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"07000025","name":"Muskingum River Navigation Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/ohio/muskingum-river-navigation-historic-district-07000025/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71990633","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":null},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/morgan-county/big-bottom-massacre-site-70000512/"}