Three States in One Day

We woke up Wednesday morning in Maryland, in the fine city of Hagerstown. I tried to find out some interesting information about Hagerstown, but there was seemingly none to be had. Nobody famous that I ever heard of was born there. There were no Civil War battles fought here. Nice town all he same.

We headed south. Destination: Harpers Ferry. On the way there, we briefly passed out of Maryland, through Virginia, and then drove into West Virginia. This was my first time in WV, so there's another state to cross off of the list, and three states in a matter of minutes.

In October of 1859, abolitionist John Brown led a raid on an armory and munitions storage in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. He was hoping to gather arms to supply a slave revolt, which he was sure would happen as soon as they found out he'd taken the armory. The president sent Robert E. Lee and his men to take care of the problem. After a day or two of exchanging gunfire in the streets of Harpers Ferry, Brown and his men were either captured or killed. Brown was captured, tried and hanged. The slave revolt never happened, but John Brown was a martyr to the abolitionist cause, and many say his actions set into motion the events that eventually led to the War Between the States, which started 18 months after the siege at Harpers Ferry.

Harpers Ferry itself is a picturesque little town, set in a valley at the confluence of the Potomac and the Shenandoah Rivers. Here are some pictures of the landscape and the historic Lower Town that I took today:

Visitors Center









The shuttle we rode from the Visitors Center to the historic site:









Stepping off of the tour bus, this is the first thing you see:









A look up one of the main drags in Harpers Ferry:









John Brown's Fort, where he held up during the siege:









That's the original building, still standing today. It originally stood in a spot about 100 feet away, as indicated by this marker:









This is where the Potomac and the Shenandoah meet:








The Appalachian Trail runs through Harpers Ferry. Here's Dave standing on an old railroad bridge that serves as part of the trail:






Another shot looking along the main drag:








Dave contemplating life along the shores of the Shenandoah River:







Back on the shuttle after an exhausting but satisfying day:






One last parting shot:







We had a great time exploring Harpers Ferry, and what we'll most remember it for is the beauty of the landscape and the richness of it's history.

Also, there were no tall towers for me to climb, but there was this really high bridge...


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