About Harpers Ferry National Historical Park
Harpers Ferry National Historical Park sits where the Shenandoah River meets the Potomac and where West Virginia, Maryland, and Virginia meet each other, on land once home to the Tuscarora and Shawnee. Robert Harper obtained a patent for the ferry site in 1751, and his house is the oldest building in the lower town. George Washington chose the water-powered site for a federal armory, which produced more than half a million muskets and rifles between 1801 and 1860 and employed up to 400 workers; between 1820 and 1840 John H. Hall perfected the manufacture of interchangeable parts in the armory's rifle works.
The town is best known for John Brown's October 1859 raid on the armory, meant to arm an uprising against slavery. Brown was captured in the armory firehouse, now called John Brown's Fort and the most visited historic site in West Virginia, and was hanged after predicting the civil war that began less than two years later. Harpers Ferry changed hands eight times during that war; in September 1862 Stonewall Jackson's assault forced the surrender of 12,500 Union troops, the largest capitulation of U.S. forces in the conflict. After the war Storer College opened as one of the first integrated schools in the country. Frederick Douglass served as a trustee and delivered his John Brown oration there in 1881, and in 1906 W. E. B. Du Bois convened the second Niagara Movement conference, a forerunner of the NAACP, on campus. Storer closed in 1955, and its remaining buildings now house the park's Stephen T. Mather Training Center and Harpers Ferry Center.
The site was set aside as Harpers Ferry National Monument on June 30, 1944, and redesignated a national historical park by Congress in 1963. It now covers about 3,660 acres in Jefferson County, West Virginia, Washington County, Maryland, and Loudoun County, Virginia and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. The Appalachian Trail passes through the park, and a footbridge beside the railroad bridge connects the lower town to the C&O Canal towpath and the Maryland Heights overlook.
Collections and Research Services
The park's museums occupy restored 19th-century buildings along Shenandoah Street in the Lower Town, with exhibits on the armory and industry, John Brown's raid, the Civil War, Black history and Storer College. The park also offers a 360-degree virtual tour of the Lockwood House and the stories held within its walls. Ranger programs and special events are listed on the park calendar. Researchers tracing armory workers, Storer College students, or Jefferson County families should combine the park's exhibits with county and college records; our guides to free family history research and finding old photographs of a neighborhood show where to look.
Planning Your Visit
Most visitors park at the Visitor Center and entrance station at 171 Shoreline Drive, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425, and ride the park shuttle bus, which runs every 10 to 15 minutes from 9 a.m., with the last bus at 7 p.m. during Daylight Saving Time and 5:30 p.m. in winter. Lower Town museums, exhibits, restrooms, and the Visitor Center are open daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; trails and parking lots open 30 minutes before sunrise and close 30 minutes after sunset. The park is open year-round except Thanksgiving, December 25, and January 1. Entrance passes, valid three consecutive days, are $20 per private vehicle, $15 per motorcycle, and $10 per person on foot or bicycle for ages 16 and up; children under 16 are free, a park annual pass is $35, and America the Beautiful passes are honored. Payment is cashless, passes may be bought online in advance, and the dashboard pass must be displayed before arrival. Call (304) 535-6029 or see nps.gov/hafe for conditions and fee-free days. For the state's broader story, the West Virginia State Museum in Charleston covers West Virginia from prehistory to statehood and beyond.
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