Harpers Ferry

Harpers Ferry stores

We came out of the Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah National Park at the northern park boundary near Front Royal, Virginia.  Our plan was to head to Harpers Ferry and then on to Gettysburg.  Both historic sites were right on our way north and on our list of places we really wanted to visit.

 Supply Wagon for the U.S. Armory at Harpers Ferry

We stayed in a commercial campground just outside of town near Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.  The first thing we noticed is that we weren’t in the cool mountains anymore.  Summer had arrived for the Sims Family.  The humidity was really high so for the first time in over a year we slept with the air-conditioner on most of the night. That almost never happens as we are usually in places where we can open the windows at night and if needed, use the fan.

White blaze on light post marks the Appalachian Trail

 

 
The next morning we walked with Maya into Harpers Ferry from the visitor center.  The cool of the morning made it a nice walk, but the promise of a hot day was already in the air.  We visited most of the town’s historic places, from John Brown’s Fort to Harpers Ferry water gap where Thomas Jefferson commented upon seeing the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers crashing together as “perhaps one of the most stupendous scenes in Nature.”  The Appalachian Trail goes right through Harpers Ferry so we followed the trail markers, white blazes on the lamp posts in town.  We saw a few AT hikers taking a rest and enjoying visiting the town.

 

John Brown's Fort

The armory fire-engine house came to be known as

John Brown's Fort as he was eventually captured there

 

Harpers Ferry has a complex history.  Most of us remember it for John Brown’s attack on slavery and the town’s strategic location during the Civil War causing it to change hands between north and south occupation eight times.  As we toured the town and its fantastic exhibits in the different historic buildings we learned so much more about Harpers Ferry. 

Many famous Americans had part of their roles in American History take place in or near Harpers Ferry – George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Meriwether Lewis, Robert E. Lee, J.E.B. Stuart, Stonewall Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, George Armstrong Custer and Frederick Douglass just to name a few of the most famous.  One of the pleasures of aging is to re-examine the things you learned long ago and to discover new insights and understandings.  Learning is fun at any age, especially if you are standing right in the place where it happened.

Ruin of St. John's Episcopal Church which also served

as a hospital during the several Civil War Battles at Harpers Ferry

 

 

David's Stats:
Days Hiked       1
Total Miles Hiked       3.5  
Total Elevation Gain       360