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On our way down and North out of Shenandoah, we stopped by Harper's Ferry briefly. This is an interesting place with a complex history. Placed at the junction of 3 rivers, Harper's Ferry became an early shipping port. It is most famous as the location where John Brown staged his ill-fated uprising against the Federal Government, where he attempted to capture a militia arsenal. As you most likely know, this attempt failed, and John Brown was hanged for treason nearby. However, his abolitionist movement and the raid on Harper's Ferry is often cited as the spark that started the Civil War. Harper's Ferry is now a National park, with many buildings restored to or maintained in their pre-civil war state. There are also ruins of buildings whose 'bones' are now exposed to the elements, often adjacent to still functioning edifices like the church pictured below. Ultimately, its proximity to so much water was its doom -- it has flooded there repeatedly, sometime up to and over the 2nd floor of the buildings, destroying businesses, homes and people in the process.
We found this stairwell very curious. It really does become narrower at the top. The two buildings are set on a curving street, so the backs of each of the buildings are closer together than the fronts.
The girls all soaked their hot and tired feet in the Shenandoah River, while singing "Oh Shenandoah".
Another view of the old church.
We spent most of our time while in Harper's Ferry touring the several museums and exhibits concerning John Brown, the abolitionist movement, and the black experience for Harper's Ferry residents. There were many free black businessmen there who were quite successful. They would sometimes have enough resources to purchase their family members from other slaveholders, creating the odd situation of a husband 'owning' his wife and children. One could not simply sign a piece of paper to free a slave -- it had to be approved by the local government. In addition, freedom carried with it responsibilities and hardships that slaves did not have, so often the wife was not freed by the husband by mutual agreement. We found the National Park's management of Harper's Ferry lacking. If it were a civil war living history museum it would have been much more lively and interesting; but the federal government is not known for executing its responsibilities well, so our dissatisfaction was hardly surprising. After obtaining the required ice cream and wandering the streets a bit, it was getting late in the day, and we were not camping at Harper's Ferry, so we re-boarded the van, and continued Northeast. |
