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85-590: The ATC is headquartered in Harpers Ferry , West Virginia . Sandi Marra serves as president of the organization. The Appalachian Trail was originally conceived by forester Benton MacKaye who envisioned a grand trail that would connect a series of farms and wilderness work/study camps for city-dwellers. In 1922, at the suggestion of Major William A. Welch , director of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission , MacKaye's plan

170-647: A "John Brown professorship" to be held by an African-American. In 1906, Storer hosted the first U.S. meeting of the Niagara Movement , the predecessor of the NAACP , after its organizational meeting in Fort Erie, Ontario . In the late 1890s, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad wanted the land where the fort was located to make its line less vulnerable to flooding. Some white townspeople were eager to get rid of

255-475: A Visitor Center and a John Brown Museum. Harpers Ferry National Monument became Harpers Ferry National Historical Park on May 29, 1963. "Recreationists" who wanted a park and did not care about the history were a problem. Local residents did not want to lose recreational opportunities, but swimming and fishing on the Shenandoah shore, formerly common, were prohibited. In order to keep recreationists out of

340-401: A bandstand. Visitors could also play croquet , tennis, rent boats, fish, or wade in the river. Later there were baseball games. Blacks and whites attended on different days. In 1883, there were an estimated 100,000 visitors. There were six special trains to Harpers Ferry from various points. The amusement park was kept open despite periodic flooding and repairs until 1909. The B&O kept

425-437: A bill to establish Harpers Ferry National Military Park in "the area where the most important events of [John Brown's raid] took place. Although this bill did not pass, the flood of 1936 made the project more feasible by destroying buildings not historically important and thus freeing land. After several other attempts, a bill creating Harpers Ferry National Monument was passed and signed by President Roosevelt in 1944, subject to

510-585: A dozen times, including Charles Town, and especially Harpers Ferry. Jefferson County is the only part of modern-day West Virginia not exempted from the effects of the Emancipation Proclamation (as Berkeley County and the 48 counties designated as West Virginia had been). Slaves in the county thus were legally free as of January 1, 1863. The Jefferson County Courthouse is the only courthouse in America to have held two treason trials:

595-457: A family that later built the town's Wager Hotel. The bridge connected the town across the Potomac with Sandy Hook, Maryland , which for a few years in the 1830s was the railroad's western terminus. In 1837, the railroad crossed the Potomac into Harpers Ferry with the opening of the B & O Railroad Potomac River Crossing . The first railroad junction in the country began service in 1836 when

680-413: A female householder with no spouse present, 17.1% had a male householder with no spouse present. The average household and family size was 3.15. The median age in the county was 41 years with 22.1% of the population under 18. The median income for a household was $ 86,711 and the poverty rate was 9.7%. As of the 2010 U.S. census , there were 53,498 people, 19,931 households, and 13,971 families residing in

765-553: A global scale. The Conservancy strives to heighten awareness via the "ATC's Community Recognition Program" or "Trail Towns" program that recognizes and highlights the communities through which the trail's 2,000 miles run. As well, the ATC's "A Trail To Every Classroom" is a school program that utilized the trail to teach students about conservation, preservation, earth science and ecology. Because The ATC Headquarters in Harpers Ferry

850-534: A record in a federal investigation. He is alleged to have beaten Mark Daniel Haines, who later pleaded guilty to bank robbery, during his arrest on December 27, 2010. He is also alleged to have altered a use of force report while the incident was under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation . Shirley and 14 other " John Doe " law enforcement officers were also the subject of a civil rights lawsuit filed by Haines. The lawsuit alleges that Shirley and

935-479: A reunion of 4,000 Odd Fellows in 1880 and a "Grand Tri-State Democratic Mass Meeting" 1892. Thomas Wentworth Higginson , one of the Secret Six who assisted John Brown , chose Harpers Ferry for his honeymoon. The park was large enough that parades could be held. There were a steam-powered ferris wheel and carousel , a midway , a pavilion for dancing or roller skating , swings, a merry-go-round , and

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1020-727: Is land and 2.0 square miles (5.2 km ) (1.0%) is water. It is the only West Virginia county where the Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah River can be found, as referenced in West Virginia's state song , " Take Me Home, Country Roads " by John Denver . The lowest point in the state of West Virginia is located on the Potomac River (just east of Harpers Ferry ) in Jefferson County, where it flows out of West Virginia and into Virginia . As of

1105-613: Is located in the Shenandoah Valley in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia . It is the easternmost county of the U.S. state of West Virginia . As of the 2020 census , the population was 57,701. Its county seat is Charles Town . The county was founded in 1801, and today is part of the Washington metropolitan area . Jefferson County was established on October 26, 1801 from Berkeley County because

1190-500: Is located roughly at the halfway point for the Appalachian Trail, a photograph at ATC headquarters is a standard ritual for those hikers intending to walk the entire path. One of the functions of the ATC, as the lead organization in managing and protecting the A.T., is to maintain the official 2,000-miler registry of all those who have completed the A.T. Another, less official function, is the documentation of hikers who reach

1275-593: Is located, was named for him on its creation in 1801. George Washington , as president of the Potomac Company (which was formed to complete river improvements on the Potomac River and its tributaries), traveled to Harpers Ferry during summer 1785 to determine the need for bypass canals . Washington's familiarity with the area led him to propose the site in 1794 for a new armory. His brother, Charles Washington, who founded nearby Charles Town , and his great-great-nephew, Colonel Lewis Washington , both moved to

1360-503: Is not actually worth $ 10," wrote a Massachusetts soldier to his mother in 1863. A visitor in 1878 found the town "antiquated, dingy, and rather squalid"; another, in 1879, described it as "shabby and ruined." Since the Arsenal, Harpers Ferry's largest employer before the war, was never rebuilt, the town's population never recovered to antebellum levels. Storer College , devoted to training teachers for freedmen, opened in 1868, much to

1445-611: Is now part of Kentucky . Accordingly, in the State records of Virginia, there are listings for Jefferson County from 1780 to 1792 and Jefferson County from 1801 to 1863, neither of which are still in Virginia. The county's courthouse was the site of the trial for the abolitionist John Brown after his October 1859 raid on the federal armory in Harpers Ferry . Some 90 U.S. Marines serving under then Army Colonel Robert E. Lee and Lieutenants J.E.B. Stuart and Israel Greene put down

1530-566: Is the easternmost town in West Virginia as well as its lowest point above sea level. Originally named Harper's Ferry after an 18th-century ferry owner, the town lost its apostrophe in 1891 in an update by the United States Board on Geographic Names . It gained fame in 1859 when abolitionist John Brown led a raid on the Harpers Ferry Armory in a doomed effort to start a slave rebellion in Virginia and across

1615-597: Is where the North and South met." It was a natural conduit for Confederate invasions of the North, as in General Robert E. Lee 's Maryland campaign of 1862 and Gettysburg campaign of 1863, and for Union troops heading south in their attempts to thwart Rebel forces in the Valley. The town was "easy to seize, and hard to hold", because of its topography: surrounded on three sides by high ground ( Bolivar Heights to

1700-517: The 2020 census , there were 57,701 people and 21,162 households residing in the county. There were 23,762 housing units in Jefferson county. The racial makeup of the county was 81.2% White , 6% African American , 1.5% Asian , 0.2% Native American , 2.9% from other races , and 8.2% from two or more races . Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 7.2% of the population. Of the 50,841 households, 53.6% were married couples living together, 21.7% had

1785-769: The American Civil War , but the counties remained part of West Virginia. The question of the constitutionality of the formation of the new state was brought before the Supreme Court of the United States in the following manner: Berkeley and Jefferson County, West Virginia, counties lying on the Potomac east of the mountains, in 1863, with the consent of the Reorganized Government of Virginia, had supposedly voted in favor of annexation to West Virginia. However, many voters were absent in

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1870-677: The Connecticut leg of the trail. This section is a 50-mile stretch through the northwest corner of the state from Dog Tail Corners in Webatuck, New York, to Bear Mountain at the Massachusetts border. Anderson worked dually as a section manager for both the Connecticut Forest & Park Association and the ATC. With his volunteers, he continued to maintain the trail until his retirement in 1948. Today, that section of

1955-557: The Maryland side, the later Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad competed for right-of-way on a very narrow patch of land downstream from Harpers Ferry. In 1833, the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal reached Harpers Ferry from Washington, D.C. ; a planned western expansion to Ohio was never completed. A year later, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad began service from Harpers Ferry via Wager Bridge, named for

2040-685: The Virginia General Assembly granted him the right to establish and maintain a ferry across the Potomac. In 1763, the Virginia General Assembly established the town of "Shenandoah Falls at Mr. Harpers Ferry." Harper died in October 1782, and is buried in the Harper Cemetery. On October 25, 1783, Thomas Jefferson visited Harpers Ferry as he was traveling to Philadelphia . Viewing "the passage of

2125-676: The Winchester and Potomac Railroad opened its line from Harpers Ferry southwest to Charles Town and then to Winchester, Virginia . Virginius Island , which connected the Shenandoah River to the lower part of Harpers Ferry, was created by happenstance in the early 1800s after debris floated down from upstream mills during the construction of the Shenandoah Canal. Cotton, flour mills, and other water-powered companies were developed on Virginius Island, taking advantage of

2210-404: The "secession" of West Virginia, including Berkeley and Jefferson counties, from Virginia. In 2011, West Virginia state delegate Larry Kump sponsored legislation to allow Morgan, Berkeley, and Jefferson counties to rejoin Virginia by popular vote. In 1863, West Virginia's counties were divided into civil townships , with the intention of encouraging local government. This proved impractical in

2295-554: The 1870s. In the 1880s, Bolivar District was annexed by Harpers Ferry; Potomac and Shepherd were consolidated into Shepherdstown District, and Osburn was renamed "Kabletown". In October 1896, Jefferson County became the first county in the United States to begin Rural Free Delivery service in the towns of Halltown and Uvilla . According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the county has a total area of 212 square miles (550 km ), of which 210 square miles (540 km )

2380-431: The 20th century destroyed all structures on the island. Today, visitors can view Virginius Island's historic ruins and walk National Park Service trails. On October 16, 1859, the abolitionist John Brown led a group of 22 men (counting himself) in a raid on the armory. Five of the men were black: three free black men, one freed slave, and one fugitive slave. Brown attacked and captured several buildings, hoping to secure

2465-575: The 20th century, the county trended strongly Democratic due to historical sympathies for Confederate Virginia. In contrast to its rock-ribbed Unionist and Republican Eastern Panhandle sister Morgan County , Jefferson did not vote Republican until Dwight D. Eisenhower won by 27 votes in 1956, and afterwards voted Republican only in the 1972 and 1984 landslides, and in 1988. Despite its strong support for Republican presidential candidates in recent years, local Democrats still have success in Jefferson County. Even as recently as 2018, Senator Joe Manchin won

2550-506: The B&;O in 1879 built Island Park Resort and Amusement Park on Byrne Island in the Potomac, which the railroad bought and built a footbridge to reach it. One had to pay 5¢ ($ 5 in 2021 value) to cross and enter, after which rides and other activities were free. Access to the park was also a benefit for B&O employees, as it had done in Relay, Maryland . Among the many events held there were

2635-628: The Confederate Army when the vote was taken and they refused to accept the transfer upon their return. The Virginia General Assembly repealed the Act of Secession and in 1866 brought suit against West Virginia, asking the Supreme Court to declare the counties still part of Virginia. Congress, on March 10, 1866, passed a joint resolution recognizing the transfer. In 1871, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Virginia v. West Virginia , upholding

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2720-532: The Federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry from the Union Army, even before the convention which would consider whether or not the state should secede had been called together. Because of the town's strategic location on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and at the northern end of the Shenandoah Valley , both Union and Confederate troops moved through Harpers Ferry frequently. It was said that "Jefferson County

2805-599: The Murphy family, the location at the time of John Brown's historic "fort," the armory's firehouse. As a result, the fort was soon moved to the Storer campus, where it became the college's central icon. After the college closed in 1955, the National Park Service moved it back to as close as possible to its original location. A 1936 flood left the lower town "shabby and almost uninhabited", with no bridge across

2890-530: The Potomac through the Blue Ridge " from a rock that is now named for him as Jefferson's Rock, he called the site "perhaps one of the most stupendous scenes in nature" and stated, "This scene is worth a voyage across the Atlantic." The town was one of his favorite retreats, and tradition holds that much of his Notes on the State of Virginia was written there. Jefferson County , in which Harpers Ferry

2975-542: The Shenandoah River's water power and good routes to markets. The island came to house all of Harpers Ferry's manufacturing, except for the armory, which used the Potomac River for power, and its rifle plant, some distance upstream using the Shenandoah's power. At its antebellum peak, some 180 people lived on Virginius Island, including workers who lived in a boarding house and in row houses . Floods in

3060-660: The Shenandoah to Virginia and no highway bridge to Maryland. All remaining structures on Virginius Island were destroyed. The backbone of the effort to preserve and commemorate Harpers Ferry was Henry T. MacDonald, President of Storer, an amateur historian appointed by West Virginia Governor Okey Patteson as head of the Harpers Ferry National Monument Commission. He was assisted by the Representative from West Virginia's Second District, Jennings Randolph , who in 1935 introduced

3145-563: The South. During the American Civil War , the town became the northernmost point of Confederate -controlled territory, and changed hands several times due to its strategic importance. An antebellum manufacturing and transportation hub, Harpers Ferry has long since reoriented its economy around tourism after being largely destroyed during the Civil War. Harpers Ferry is home to John Brown's Fort , West Virginia's most visited tourist site;

3230-479: The Union again had control of Harpers Ferry. On July 4, 1864, Union general Franz Sigel withdrew his troops to Maryland Heights, from which he resisted Jubal Early 's attempt to enter the town and drive out the federal garrison. Inspired by John Brown's raid, both runaway and freed slaves came to Harpers Ferry during and after the American Civil War . This created social tensions between white and black residents of

3315-471: The area. In 1796, the federal government purchased a 125-acre (0.5 km ) parcel of land from the heirs of Robert Harper. Construction began on what would become the United States Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry in 1799. It is referred to locally as both "the armory" and "the arsenal," but it is the same facility. This was the second of only two such facilities in the United States,

3400-521: The armory between 1820 and 1840. His M1819 Hall rifle was the first breech-loading weapon adopted by the U.S. Army. Harpers Ferry's first man-made transportation facility was the Potomac Canal . The canal ceased transportation in 1828, but a portion of it in front of the town channeled river water to run machinery for the armory. The Potomac Canal ran on the Virginia side of the river. On

3485-412: The attention of the nation like no other abolitionist or slave owner before or since." The American Civil War was disastrous for Harpers Ferry, where five battles took place; it changed hands eight times between 1861 and 1865. (Another article says it changed hands twelve times. ) One of the first military actions by secessionists in Virginia was taken on April 18, 1861, when they wrested control of

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3570-408: The campus of Storer College , a primarily Black college that operated until 1955. (After it closed, the campus 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 DuBois as "one of the greatest meetings that American Negroes ever held". Attendees walked from Storer College to the farm of

3655-474: The citizens of southeastern Berkeley County felt they had to travel too far to the county seat of Martinsburg . Charles Washington , the founder of Charles Town and brother to George Washington, petitioned for a new county to be formed. It was named for Thomas Jefferson , author of the Declaration of Independence and third President of the United States . Virginia previously had a Jefferson County, which

3740-472: The community and generated a growing need for services for the increasing African-American population. Accordingly, a freedman's school was opened on Camp Hill by Freewill Baptist missionaries following the American Civil War. The town and the armory, with the exception of John Brown's Fort , were destroyed during the war. "The larger portion of the houses all lie in ruins and the whole place

3825-534: The confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers and established a ferry across the Potomac from Virginia (now West Virginia ) to Maryland . Robert Harper, from whom the town takes its name, was born in 1718 in Oxford Township , Pennsylvania , now part of Philadelphia . Since he was a builder, Harper was asked by a group of Quakers in 1747 to build a meeting house in the Shenandoah Valley near

3910-406: The county, and handles all 911 emergency and non emergency calls. In February 2007, Jefferson County Sheriff's Department Corporal Ronald Fletcher was shot and critically wounded during a stand-off at the residence of the girlfriend of a suspect, Dorsey Cox. Cox had been at his girlfriend's house retrieving personal items in violation of a court-ordered protective order. As Corporal Fletcher approached

3995-422: The county. The population density was 255.2 inhabitants per square mile (98.5/km ). There were 22,037 housing units at an average density of 105.1 per square mile (40.6/km ). The racial makeup of the county was 87.6% white, 6.6% black or African American, 1.2% Asian, 0.2% American Indian, 0.1% Pacific islander, 1.8% from other races, and 2.6% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 4.7% of

4080-622: The displeasure of many residents of Harpers Ferry who petitioned the Legislature to revoke its charter. The War Department gave the Freedmen's Bureau its remaining assets in Harpers Ferry, principally four sturdy residences for the managers of the Armory, structurally sound but in need of repairs from damage during the war, and the Bureau gave them to Storer College. A one-room school for Blacks

4165-582: The first being in Springfield, Massachusetts . Together they produced most of the small arms for the U.S. Army. The town was transformed into a water-powered industrial center. Between 1801 and 1861, when the armory was destroyed to prevent capture during the American Civil War , it produced more than 600,000 muskets, rifles, and pistols. Inventor Captain John H. Hall pioneered the use of interchangeable parts in firearms manufactured at his rifle works at

4250-489: The fort. It was dismantled and moved to Chicago for display at the 1893 Columbian Exposition . Abandoned there, it was rescued and moved back to Harpers Ferry by the Baltimore and Ohio without charge, motivated by their expectation that having the fort back in Harpers Ferry would be a tourist attraction and a way to build ridership on the railroad. But most whites were opposed to any commemoration of John Brown, and it

4335-460: The great struggle which ended in the 'opening of the prison doors, the breaking of every yoke, the undoing of heavy burdens, and letting the oppressed go free." Storer, the only Black college at a location historically important to African-Americans, became a center of the civil rights movement and built the town's importance as a destination for Black tourists and excursionists. Douglass spoke there in 1881, as part of an unsuccessful campaign to fund

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4420-417: The halfway point. These hikers, whether hiking Northbound, Southbound, or Section hiking (completing portions in multiple trips) almost universally stop by the ATC headquarters for a few minutes. Having a simple Polaroid under the ATC sign after hiking 1,000 miles is a milestone anticipated by many hikers. The pictures are signed and numbered in the order the hikers arrive. Although hikers are not entered into

4505-620: The headquarters of the Appalachian Trail , whose midpoint is nearby; the former campus of Storer College , a historically black college established during Reconstruction ; and one of four national training centers of the National Park Service . Much of the lower town, which was in ruins by the end of the Civil War and ravaged by subsequent floods, has been rebuilt and preserved by the National Park Service. In 1733, squatter Peter Stephens settled on land near

4590-443: The heavily rural state, and in 1872 the townships were converted into magisterial districts . Jefferson County was initially divided into five townships, which became magisterial districts in 1872: Averill, Bolivar, Chapline, Grant, and Shepherd. In 1873, Averill District was renamed "Middleway", Chapline became "Potomac", and Grant District became "Charlestown". Two additional districts, Harpers Ferry and Osburn, were created during

4675-670: The historic area, and especially Virginius Island, John Brown's Fort was moved to Arsenal Square from a now-inconvenient location on the former Storer College campus, parking in the lower town was prohibited, and a shuttle bus service begun. Tensions between the NPS and town residents were ongoing. However, the NPS helped the town achieve Main Street Status from the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2001. Jefferson County, West Virginia Jefferson County

4760-420: The house, Cox fled inside and subsequently shot Corporal Fletcher four times, one of which struck the officer in the chest. The State Police's SWAT team entered the house. Cox was later found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. On June 5, 2012, Sheriff Robert Shirley was indicted on one count of deprivation of rights under color of law and one count of destruction, falsification or alteration of

4845-578: The lower town was "a sagging and rotted ghost town." The idea of making Harpers Ferry into a National Monument was to prevent the further deterioration and to rebuild the tourist industry. The first task of the Park Service was to stabilize the buildings on Shenandoah Street, the main commercial street of lower Harpers Ferry. Roofs were covered, missing windows replaced, walls on the verge of collapse reinforced, and debris removed. Post-1859 buildings were not restored, and most were removed. The NPS built

4930-560: The official 2,000-miler registry until completing the full Appalachian Trail, the ritual is nonetheless a memorable recognition of their progress. Harpers Ferry, West Virginia Harpers Ferry is a historic town in Jefferson County , West Virginia , in the lower Shenandoah Valley . The town's population was 269 at the 2020 United States census . Situated at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, where Maryland , Virginia , and West Virginia meet, it

5015-449: The other officers used excessive force while arresting Haines. Shirley pled guilty to federal civil rights charges of and was sentenced to a year in prison. Jefferson County has been a Republican-leaning county in the 21st century, although Barack Obama carried it in the 2008 presidential election. The county is part of the Washington metropolitan area , making it less heavily Republican than most counties in West Virginia. For much of

5100-422: The population. In terms of ancestry, 25.9% were German , 17.3% were English , 12.1% were Irish , and 6.6% were American . Of the 19,931 households, 34.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.9% were married couples living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 29.9% were non-families, and 22.7% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size

5185-539: The present site of Winchester, Virginia . Traveling through Maryland on his way to the Shenandoah Valley, Harper—who was also a millwright —realized the potential of the latent waterpower from the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers at their confluence. He paid Stephens 30 guineas for his squatting rights to the ferry, since the land actually belonged to Lord Fairfax . Harper then purchased 126 acres (0.51 km ) of land from Lord Fairfax in 1751. In 1761,

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5270-495: The project was supported both by Harpers Ferry mayor Gilbert Perry and Governor Patteson. Twenty-two eviction notices were served in the lower town, and two taverns closed. Property acquisition, not all of which was unproblematic, was completed in 1952 and presented to the United States in January 1953. The National Monument's first on-site employee, John T. Willett, began work in 1954. In 1957, The Baltimore Sun reported that

5355-543: The proviso that nothing would be done with it until the war ended. An urgent priority was the new highway, which is today U.S. Route 340 . A new bridge connecting Sandy Hook, Maryland with Loudoun County, Virginia opened in October 1947, on which work had begun in 1941 but was interrupted by the war. Another new bridge over the Shenandoah connecting Virginia to Bolivar Heights, West Virginia , opened two years later. Federal highway traffic now bypassed Harpers Ferry entirely. Land acquisition started in lower Harpers Ferry;

5440-555: The raid. John Brown's men were quickly pinned down by local citizens and militia , and forced to take refuge in the fire engine house (later called John Brown's Fort ), at the entrance to the armory. The Secretary of War asked the Navy Department for a unit of United States Marines from the Washington Navy Yard , the nearest troops. Lieutenant Israel Greene was ordered to take a force of 86 Marines to

5525-665: The raiders, killing a few and suffering a single casualty. Lee submitted a report on October 19. Brown was quickly tried in Charles Town , the county seat of Jefferson County , for treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia, murder, and fomenting a slave insurrection. Convicted of all charges, with Starry's testimony integral to the conviction, he was hanged on December 2. (See Virginia v. John Brown .) John Brown's words, both from his interview by Virginia Governor Henry A. Wise and his famous last speech , "captured

5610-589: The rebellion. Brown was sentenced to death for murder, treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia, and conspiring with slaves to rebel. On December 2, 1859, John Brown was taken from the Charles Town jail a short distance to an open field and hanged. Among those attending the Brown execution was a contingent of 1500 cadets from Virginia Military Institute sent by the Governor of Virginia Henry A. Wise under

5695-472: The site open after that for picnicking. The bandstand, the only surviving structure, has been moved twice. At the park's closing, it was moved to Arsenal Square (the current location of John Brown's Fort ), then later to the park at Washington and Gilmore Streets. It is referred to as The Bandstand or the Town Gazebo , and many civic, cultural, and recreational activities take place there. The bridge

5780-625: The spot where they once stood. The old Arsenal has been burnt to the ground; that part of the building where old John Brown made such a fatal stand, still stands as a monument to his memory. Before the destruction of the town, it contained near 3000 inhabitants, but at the present time there are not more than 300 or 400 families there. In the account of Joseph George Rosengarten , Harpers Ferry and nearby Bolivar , in 1859 "a blooming garden-spot, full of thrift and industry and comfort," had been reduced to "waste and desolation" by 1862. The town's garrison of federal troops attracted 1,500 contrabands by

5865-477: The summer Storer rented rooms to Black vacationers until 1896. The fort was the great monument where the end of slavery began. There were so many tourists that they were a nuisance to the farmer on whose lands the fort sat, and so it was moved to Storer in 1909. There it would remain until several years after the college closed in 1955, functioning as the College Museum. Male students practiced their public-speaking skills by giving tours of it. To increase ridership,

5950-412: The summer of 1862. They were returned to slavery, however, when Confederate General Stonewall Jackson took Harpers Ferry in September 1862. Lee needed to control Harpers Ferry because it was on his supply line and could cut off his possible routes of retreat if captured. Therefore. Lee divided his army of approximately 40,000 into four sections, sending three columns under Jackson to surround and capture

6035-401: The supervision of Major William Gilham and Major Thomas J. Jackson . In the ranks of a Richmond militia company stood John Wilkes Booth. Walt Whitman was also present. The county was a frequent site of conflict during the Civil War , as Union and Confederate lines moved back and forth along the Shenandoah Valley. Some towns in the county changed hands between the Union and Confederacy over

6120-517: The surrender at Harpers Ferry was the largest surrender of U.S. military personnel until the Battle of Bataan in 1942. Because of the delay in capturing the town and the movement of federal forces to the west, Lee was forced to regroup at the town of Sharpsburg, Maryland . Two days later he commanded troops in the Battle of Antietam , which had the highest number of deaths among troops of any single day in United States military history. By July 1864,

6205-527: The town. 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. After a Confederate artillery bombardment on September 14 and 15, the federal garrison surrendered. With Jackson's capture of 12,419 federal troops,

6290-475: The town. U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee was found on leave at his home not far away in Arlington, Virginia , and was assigned as commander, along with Lt. J. E. B. Stuart as his aide-de-camp . Lee led the unit in civilian clothes, as none of his uniforms were available. The contingent arrived by train on October 18, and after negotiations failed, they stormed the fire house and captured most of

6375-637: The trail is maintained by the Appalachian Mountain Club . The ATC is committed not only to trail maintenance and large-scale landscape conservation, but also to education, science, and awareness. The trail's size, uniqueness, and environmental effects of it and on it can provide valuable insights and advances for science and ecology. The ATC currently has a MEGA-Transect scientific study underway, which will use data collected (species of flora, fauna, wildlife, weather/climate effects and more) to provide critical information toward preservation on

6460-539: The trial of John Brown in 1859 and a trial arising from the Battle of Blair Mountain labor rebellion. Jefferson County had voted for secession in the vote taken on May 23, 1861. However, Jefferson County, along with Berkeley County, both counties lying on the Potomac River in the Shenandoah Valley , with the consent of the Reorganized Government of Virginia voted in favor of annexation to West Virginia in 1863. Virginia tried to nullify this after

6545-476: The weapons depot and arm the slaves, starting a revolt across the South. Brown also brought 1,000 steel pikes, which were forged in Connecticut by a blacksmith and abolitionist sympathizer, Charles Blair; however, the pikes, a weapon that does not require training, were never used as Brown failed to rally the slaves to revolt. The first shot of the raid mortally wounded Heyward Shepherd , a free black man who

6630-459: The west, Loudoun Heights to the south, and Maryland Heights to the east) and the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, anyone who controlled the heights controlled the city. The war's effect on the town was devastating. It was described in March 1862: Harper's Ferry presents quite a gloomy picture. The best buildings have been shelled to the ground, and nothing now remains but their foundations to mark

6715-538: Was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.07. The median age was 38.9 years. The median income for a household in the county was $ 65,603 and the median income for a family was $ 77,185. Males had a median income of $ 54,959 versus $ 36,782 for females. The per capita income for the county was $ 29,733. About 4.4% of families and 8.4% of the population were below the poverty line , including 10.9% of those under age 18 and 6.9% of those age 65 or over. The Jefferson County Sheriff's Department provides law enforcement services in

6800-432: Was a baggage porter for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad . The noise from that shot alerted Dr. John Starry shortly after 1 am. He walked from his nearby home to investigate the shooting and was confronted by Brown's men. Starry stated that he was a doctor but could do nothing more for Shepherd, and the men allowed him to leave. Starry then went to the livery and rode to neighboring towns and villages, alerting residents to

6885-471: Was already operating in one of them. As early as 1878, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad ran excursion trains to Harpers Ferry from Baltimore and Washington. As described in a newspaper in 1873: "One need only to alight from the train and look a little envious toward the old Engine House or the ruined walls of the old Arsenal in order to have a score of persons offering to become a kind of guide or to point out to your whatever you may desire to know about

6970-507: Was complete. The entire trail was connected in 1937, though almost every section has been relocated from their original locations to improve footpath sustainability or provide better protection from development or encroachments. The ATC was formed in Washington, D.C. , on March 2 and 3, 1925, with Major Welch as chairman and Torrey as treasurer. In 1927, Welch was replaced by Judge Arthur Perkins and in 1928, J. Ashton Allis became Treasurer. In 1929, Perkins recruited Ned Anderson to blaze

7055-463: Was destroyed by flooding in 1896, as was a replacement bridge in 1924. The remaining structures on the island were destroyed in a 1942 flood. On August 15, 1906, Black author and scholar W. E. B. Du Bois led the first meeting on American soil of the new Niagara Movement . Named after the site of its initial meeting in Fort Erie, Ontario , Canada on the Niagara River , the movement met on

7140-482: Was placed on a nearby farm. Visits by tourists, many of them Black, now began to slowly turn the town into a real tourist center and return it to growth. "Harpers Ferry proved to be one of the most visited places of leisure for nineteenth-century African Americans." There was a Black-owned hotel, the Hill Top House , built and run by a Storer graduate, Thomas Lovett, but it catered only to white clientele. In

7225-598: Was publicized by Raymond H. Torrey with a story in the New York Evening Post under a full page banner headline reading "A Great Trail from Maine to Georgia!"; the trail component of MacKaye's proposal was quickly adopted by the new Palisades Interstate Park Trail Conference as their main project, and on January 4, 1924, the first twenty-mile (32 km) stretch from the Hudson to the Ramapo Rivers

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