Harper's Ferry


During my stay in the DC area I also took a day trip to Harper's Ferry, an historic town where West Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland meet. Harper's Ferry was a small ferry port during the 18th century, but sprang to prominence in the lead up to the Civil War, when abolitionist John Brown attempted to initiate a slave revolt by seizing the US arsenal in the town. 

Harper's Ferry is at the easternmost point of West Virginia

Brown and his 22 raiders initially captured the arsenal, but were quickly overwhelmed by a company of US Marines lead by Robert E Lee (later the commander of the Confederate Army). Those who survived, including Brown, were later executed. The event was widely and quickly covered across the US thanks to the new electrical telegraph. Today the town is home to only a few hundred people, but some of the historical buildings are well preserved, including a church and several storefronts, one of which is now a museum.

Harper's Ferry is just over an hour from where I was staying in the DC suburbs. I rode there with two of my classmates; fortunately one had a car so I could tag along. We arrived around noon, took a walk around the small historical center, visited the history museum, and then had lunch. Afterwards we crossed a pedestrian bridge over the Potomac River and hiked up the Maryland Heights trailhead. 

The trail offered great views of the town, the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, and the surrounding hills. I'll keep the description short, and instead just give you a few photos from our trip:

St Peters Roman Catholic Church, originally constructed
in 1833 and extensively altered in 1896

Section of the old town with the Shenandoah River in the background

St Peters and the confluence or the Potomac and Shenandoah

Pedestrian and rail bridge across the Potomac

View from near the ruins of Stone Fort, looking east
(away from Harper's Ferry)

Another lookout on the west side of the hill, towards Harper's Ferry

The two guys from my training class who I hiked with

I do occasionally get photos of myself, although it's rare

One of the main streets in the old town

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Training in DC and Prep for Georgia

Image
As mentioned a few posts ago, I took a new job back in the US starting in mid-January. I flew back from Japan to my hometown in Ohio at the end of December, arriving just in time for New Year's. My initial contract in Japan ended along with 2020, so it didn't make sense to start a new one for a week or two in January. This way I was also able to spend time with my parents and my sister and her husband (who live nearby) before moving to Washington, DC. In addition to family time, I had a lot of administrative tasks to take care of before the move; my new job is with the government, which involves a long, at times frustrating onboarding process. I had to fill out several HR packets, arrange temporary housing for my training in DC, decide on consequential things such as life insurance and thrift savings plan contributions, and choose my healthcare plan. By the way, why is healthcare so complicated here?! The electronic form listed over 200 healthcare options to chose from! After e...
Read more

Finishing Osaka, on to Tokyo

Image
I've covered some of the great food Andrew and I had in Japan, so now let me move on to whatever else it was that we were doing between meals.  Two posts ago I touched on Osaka, the second largest city in Japan and our fist stop in the country. Osaka is in the Kansai region of Japan, which also includes Kobe and Kyoto Osaka city proper has about 2.7 million people, but that is only a fraction of the true number.  Citing population based on city limits can be quite misleading.  Take my hometown of Columbus, and Cleveland, another city in Ohio, as examples.  The population of the city of Columbus is over 800,000, while Cleveland's is less than half that.  Take a look at the metro area, or the urban core plus surrounding suburbs and commuter towns, and the comparison is flipped: Cleveland is substantially larger than Columbus. Back to Osaka - while the city itself only has a couple million inhabitants, add in the urban sprawl and surrounding ...
Read more

My Dad and Uncle Visit Korea, Part 1

Image
Even before I left for Korea last November, my dad had mentioned that he might try and visit me.  In the past he has suggested trips only to say that it was just a hypothetical later on.  So when he finally booked a flight for a visit in the summer I was quite surprised.  Both he and my uncle flew in to Seoul on the 31 st of July and then also went to Japan together for four nights.  Here is a recap of their visit: My uncle (far right) and dad (second from right) were headed to Seoul! Korean public schools get over a month off for summer break in late June and August.  On the other hand, the private institutes (like the one I work for) often have much shorter breaks.  During the summer break from public school parents sign their kids up for extra classes at our school, so we actually are busier!  What a great vacation for the students – a full day of English classes!  My break was four days long (well six if you coun...
Read more