Marietta, Ohio is proud of its riverboat heritage and at the Ohio River Museum visitors can discover the golden age of the steamboat, and learn more about the ecology of the Ohio River system. The Ohio River Museum consists of three exhibit buildings, the first of which houses displays depicting the origins and natural history of the Ohio River. The history of the steamboat on the Ohio River system is featured in the second building, along with a video presentation on river steamboats. The last building features displays about boat building, mussels in the Ohio River system, and tool sand equipment from the steamboat era. Outside the museum, on the Muskingum River, visitors can take an escorted tour of the W.P. Snyder Jr.—the last intact steam-powered "pool-type" stern-wheeled towboat in the United States. Other exhibits on the museum grounds include the pilothouse from the steamboat Tell City as well as a full-scale reproduction of a flatboat from Ohio's early settlement period. Also on site are a series of poles showing the heights of some of the worst floods to hit the area in its recorded history: the 1884 flood at 54.5 feet, the 1898 flood at 49.6 feet, the 1907 flood at 52.1 feet, the flood of 1913 at 60.3 feet, and the 1937 flood at 55 feet.
The museum offers exhibits, a short film, tours, and educational programs.