Harpers Ferry, West Virginia "Harpers Ferry"
Harpers Ferry .
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia Panoramic view of Harpers Ferry from Maryland Heights, with the Shenandoah (left) and Potomac (right) rivers.
Panoramic view of Harpers Ferry from Maryland Heights, with the Shenandoah (left) and Potomac (right) rivers.
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia is positioned in Shenandoah Valley Harpers Ferry, West Virginia - Harpers Ferry, West Virginia Harpers Ferry is a historic town in Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States.
It was formerly spelled Harper's Ferry with an apostrophe and that form continues to appear in some references. It is situated at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers where the U.S.
States of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia meet.
Historically, Harpers Ferry is best known for John Brown's raid on the Armory in 1859 and its part in the American Civil War. The populace was 286 at the 2010 census.
The lower part of Harpers Ferry is inside Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.
Most of the remainder, which contains the more highly populated area, is encompassed in the separate Harpers Ferry Historic District.
The Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) command posts is in Harpers Ferry and the town is one of only a several through which the Appalachian Trail passes directly.
View of Harpers Ferry from Jefferson Rock in 1854.
In 1733, Peter Stephens, a squatter, had settled on territory near "The Point" (the region where the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers meet), and established a ferry from Virginia (now West Virginia) to Maryland, athwart the Potomac.
Fourteen years later (1747), while traveling from Maryland to Virginia, Robert Harper passed through the region which was titled "The Hole" (the gap in the mountain peaks along the Potomac River).
Harper recognized the potential for industry, given the power the two rivers could generate, and the traffic he could ferry athwart the Potomac River.
In 1761, the Virginia General Assembly granted Harper the right to establish and maintain a ferry athwart the Potomac River (even though a ferry had been functioning successfully in the region before and after Harper first settled there).
On October 25, 1783, Thomas Jefferson attended Harpers Ferry.
This stop took place as Jefferson was traveling to Philadelphia and passed through Harpers Ferry with his daughter Patsy.
George Washington, as president of the Patowmack Company (which was formed to complete river improvements on the Potomac and its tributaries), traveled to Harpers Ferry amid the summer of 1785 to determine the need for bypass canals.
Some of Washington's family moved to the area; his great-great-nephew, Colonel Lewis Washington, was held hostage amid John Brown's raid in 1859, and George's brother Charles Washington established the close-by Jefferson County town of Charles Town.:13 Construction began on the United States Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry in 1799. This was one of only two such facilities in the U.S., the other being Springfield, Massachusetts.
Industrialization continued in 1833 when the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal reached Harpers Ferry, linking it with Washington, D.C.
Main article: John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry The first shot mortally wounded Hayward Shepherd, a no-charge black man who had been a evening baggage porter for the B&O Railroad running through Harpers Ferry near the armory.
Harpers Ferry in 1865, looking east (downstream) The Civil War was disastrous for Harpers Ferry, which changed hands eight times between 1861 and 1865. Because of the town's strategic locale on the barns and at the northern end of the Shenandoah Valley, both Union and Confederate troops moved through Harpers Ferry incessantly.
Harper's Ferry and Bridge from Maryland Heights, 1872 Maryland Heights, Harper's Ferry, 1873 134]] The Battle of Harpers Ferry started with light fighting September 13 as the Confederates tried to capture the Maryland Heights to the northeast, while John Walker moved back over the Potomac to capture Loudoun Heights south of town.
With 12,419 Federal troops captured by Jackson, the surrender at Harpers Ferry was the biggest surrender of U.S.
Because of the delay in capturing Harpers Ferry and the boss of Federal forces to the west, Lee was forced to regroup at the town of Sharpsburg.
By July 1864, the Union again had control of Harpers Ferry.
National Park Service map of Harper Ferry showing the Appalachian Trail, with (1) being the scene of John Brown's raid Harpers Ferry and the bridge overlooking sides of Maryland and West Virginia (taken from West Virginia) (The ground became part of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.) The three-day gathering, which was held to work for civil rights for African Americans, was later described by Du - Bois as "one of the greatest meetings that American Negroes ever held." Harper's Ferry is traditionally the psychological midpoint on the Appalachian Trail, though the mileage is not equal.
In 1944 Congress authorized the establishment of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, to take in most of the town and be administered by the National Park Service.
The majority of the existing homes in Harpers Ferry (including Charmadoah) are historic.
In 1950 Harpers Ferry had a populace of 822. On July 23, 2015, a fire broke out in downtown Harpers Ferry, destroying eight or nine businesses and two apartements in two historic buildings.
See also: Harpers Ferry (Amtrak station) B&O RR Columbian at Harpers Ferry in 1949 Railroad bridge and Maryland Heights opposite Harpers Ferry; also visible is the painted Mennen's Borated Talcum Toilet Powder advertisement on the cliffs, painted around 1903 to 1906.
Bridge dominant into Harpers Ferry from Maryland in February 2009.
Amtrak, the nationwide traveler rail system, provides service to Harpers Ferry two times a day (once in each direction).
The city's traveler rail station is at the West Virginia end of the historic barns bridge athwart the Potomac River.
In addition about 40-50 CSX freight trains everyday pass through Harpers Ferry and over the bridge spanning the Potomac River.
Harpers Ferry is positioned at 39 19 31 N 77 44 37 W (39.325398, -77.743599), at the confluence of the Shenandoah River, left, and the Potomac River, right.
Across the Shenandoah lie the Loudoun Heights, in Virginia, while athwart the Potomac are the Maryland Heights, in Maryland.
From most of Harpers Ferry, a fading advertisement for Mennen's Borated Talcum Toilet Powder painted on the cliff face of Maryland Heights decades ago is still visible. According to the Koppen Climate Classification system, Harpers Ferry has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps. Federally, Harpers Ferry is part of West Virginia's 2nd congressional precinct and is represented by Alex Mooney (R) in the United States House of Representatives.
"Harpers Ferry Town Website".
Harpers Ferry.
https://nps.gov/archive/hafe/armory.htm; Harpers Ferry NHP Armory and Arsenal; Retrieved on 2007-04-05 Towpath Guide to the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal: Harpers Ferry to Fort Frederick.
Lee, Report to the Adjutant General Concerning the Attack at Harper's Ferry, University of Missouri Kansas City, Law School "Harpers Ferry NHP Stonewall Jackson".
"Fire destroys businesses in historic region of Harpers Ferry".
"Shepherdstown Chronicle, 7/31/2015, Harpers Ferry blaze destroys buildings, businesses, homes".
"Development Threatens Park Experience - Harpers Ferry National Historical Park (U.S.
Thomas Jefferson at Harpers Ferry, David T.
Harpers Ferry Vignette, John Armstrong, page 5 of The Classic Layout Designs of John Armstrong: A Compilation, Kalmbach Publishing Company, 2001, ISBN 0-89024-417-0 "Harpers Ferry, West Virginia Koppen Climate Classification (Weatherbase)".
Steven Lubet, The "Colored Hero" of Harper's Ferry: John Anthony Copeland and the War Against Slavery (Cambridge University Press, 2015) p.181.
Karen Whitman, "Re-evaluating John Brown's Raid at Harpers Ferry" Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine., West Virginia Culture, accessed April 12, 2007 William Elsey Connelley, John Brown (Topeka: Crane & Company, 1900), 340-347; and Oswald Garrison Villard, John Brown 1800-1859: A Biography Fifty Years After (1910, reprint, Gloucester, MA: Peter Smith, 1965), 678-687.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclop dia Britannica article Harper's Ferry.
Corporation of Harpers Ferry Website Harpers Ferry During the Civil War in Encyclopedia Virginia Harpers Ferry National Historical Park Harpers Ferry Historic Town Foundation Harpers Ferry Foundation blog Amtrak Station Stop, Harpers Ferry Photos with descriptions of Harpers Ferry Daingerfield's account of Harpers Ferry Harpers Ferry Revolver from John Brown raid - Kansas Historical Society Harpers Ferry travel guide from Wikivoyage Municipalities and communities of Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States
Categories:
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia - American Civil War sites - Jefferson County, West Virginia in the American Civil War - Towns in Jefferson County, West Virginia - Towns in West Virginia - John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry - Populated places established in 1763 - West Virginia populated places on the Potomac River - 1763 establishments in Virginia
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