Thursday, September 8, 2022
Today the rain has departed although the clouds remain. After breakfast, we drove back into Harpers Ferry to take in some attractions that we missed yesterday. After parking at the train station and displaying my NPS Senior Pass in the windshield again, we walked to the Meriwether Lewis at Harpers Ferry Museum. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson sent his private secretary and leader of the Corps of Discovery, Meriwether Lewis to Harpers Ferry to prepare supplies for an exploration and mapping of the territory between the Missouri River and the Pacific Ocean. The supplies including weapons were stored at the U.S. Armory and Arsenal before being transported for use in Lewis’ famous expedition. This museum had displays explaining the mission and supplies obtained in Harpers Ferry.
Next, we walked the pedestrian bridge (also part of the Appalachian Trial) across the Potomac River to Maryland. On the other side we encountered the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Canal Trail and one of the canal’s now defunct locks. As we were preparing to return back across the bridge, a lengthy CSX freight train hauling car-after-car of coal crossed the train bridge and proceeded through the Blue Ridge via a tunnel. Looking up under the train track, I saw an endless pattern of sky blue rectangles followed by longer black rectangles passing overhead. I climbed the stairs back up to the pedestrian bridge in time to watch the last cars pass through the mountain then walked back to West Virginia.
At 11 am, we joined fellow tourists and took a bench in a grassy area to hear a lecture about John Brown from volunteer and retired ranger, David Fox. He brought in local aspects to the familiar story but also put into perspective the aftermath of the raid and the turmoil the town has had dealing with monuments about the raid and Civil War. We were herded to three other locations during the lecture
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| Meriwether Lewis at Harpers Ferry Museum |
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| Crossing the Potomac River |
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| West Virginian Coal Train |
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| Returning to Harpers Ferry – My Perspective |
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| Returning to Harpers Ferry – Jane’s Perspective |
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| Our Volunteer Guide, Retired Ranger David Fox |
After the lecture, we decided to walk up to Jefferson Rock for a view of the town. This hike took us by the picturesque St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church hovering over the town. This church was completed in 1833 when an influx of Irish immigrants settled the area. The church managed to escape the Civil War relatively unscathed by flying the British Union Jack flag as a symbol of its neutrality. Further up the hill, we encountered the weathered ruins of St John’s Episcopal Church. It was built in 1852 and served as a hospital and barracks during the Civil War and suffered considerable damage then. A rebuilt version was eventually abandoned when another Episcopal church was erected uptown.
We continued our ascent and shortly arrived at Jefferson Rock, so named because Thomas Jefferson visited it in 1788 and praised the views of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers below. Today much of the pretty view is obscured by trees. Hiking further up the hill, we entered the Harper Cemetery with Robert Harper’s gravesite. Although the town is named after Harper who settled the area, he was childless; much of his estate was inherited by his niece Sarah Wager.
We descended the hill back into Harpers Ferry and elected to eat lunch at the Coach House Bar & Grill where we enjoyed grown-up grilled cheese sandwiches and beer.
