Harpers Ferry

 In rather a grey drizzly morning we set off for Harpers Ferry in West Virginia. This is quite a decent sized National Park which includes the old town of Harpers Ferry at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers. A shuttle bus takes you down to the waterfront and there are several nice walks along the riversides.

This has been an important place for a long time. It is in a gap in the Blue Mountains and early ferries and later bridges made it an important crossing. They also used the power of the rivers to drive a lot of industry including munitions. It was the site of a significant Civil War battle and also where John Brown tried to initiate an armed uprising of slaves. The rivers have also nearly destroyed the town through several severe floods. The most recent was 1996 when most of the town was under 6 feet of water. The river and the the surrounding town is littered with the remains of washed away bridges and residences.

Apart from the song I knew next to nothing about John Brown so it was interesting to find out all that.

There are lots of old style stores and small museums and displays within the old town.

One person appeared to have randomly dressed up as well, although not the rest of his family.

Fortunately the weather brightened up quite a bit and we walked across the Potomac and admired the nice views.

Charlie was particularly impressed with the wooden trestles supporting the railway line.

It was an interesting place and there was enough to see and do to keep us busy for the day. I should imagine it is packed in the summer so I was glad we were able to wander in and out of everywhere quite easily.