We had a somewhat leisurely start this morning. The first morning after a first night of camping requires some re-assessment of process and organization
We did want to get to Harper’s Ferry before the heat of the day set in for real.. another day in the 90s. Harper’s Ferry requires walking… outside.
The drive was relatively short but for all that it’s a 4 state day. We left PA, traveled briefly through Maryland, spent all of 2 minutes in Virginia before passing into West Virginia, a beautiful drive.
Harpers Ferry, situated at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, has had a mixed history. First settled due to its agricultural promise, it quickly became an industrial town due to its access to transportation, rail and water.
Historically it’s noted for its prominence just prior to and during the events of the Civil War and is the home of the John Brown uprising and his hanging. John Brown was an abolishionist and led a small slave rebellion / uprising that made the coming Civil War an inevitability.
The campsite we are in tonight is the site of where Stonewall Jackson mounted his brilliant Maryland campaign to capture Harper’s Ferry and secure a permanent victory for the south. However he won the battle but lost the war.
I am not a civil war buff and certainly didn’t study it in school so I will leave the history at that point. Tomorrow we will visit Antietam, the bloodiest battle of the Civil War.
Today Harper’s Ferry is a national park, dedicated to telling the story. We spent a couple of hours wandering around the historic landmarks in the lower town, walked across the Potomac on the train tracks that go through the Harper’s Ferry Tunnel.
Harpers Ferry and Fallout 76
Harper’s Ferry is a location in the Bethesda Games video game Fallout 76. It was fun to walk across the bridge and up to the tunnel I have been trying to access in the game without much success yet.
The arsenal in the game is just a memory in real life, at least as far as I could determine.
The buildings and rail bridges and tunnels are well represented visually in the game. There is even a train station (which in real life is an Amtrak stop). Train stations are a prominent feature in the game and players spend a lot of time finding them and using them as trading and storage locations. So I will try to include any real life train stations we come across.
W.E.B.DuBois and the Niagara Movement
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois broke new ground on many frontiers in his remarkable and controversial life. Du Bois earned the first Harvard doctorate awarded to an African American. During a prolific career of writing and publication, including sixteen thought-provoking books on sociology, history, politics, and race relations, Du Bois became the principal architect of the civil rights movement in the United States. He perceptively said, “The problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line.”
in 1905 DuBois gathered a group of men representing every region of the country except the West. They hoped to meet in Buffalo, New York. When refused accommodation, the members migrated across the border to Canada. Twenty-nine men met at the Erie Beach Hotel in Ontario. The Niagarites adopted a constitution and by-laws, established committees and wrote the “Declaration of Principles” outlining the future for African Americans. After three days, they returned across the border with a renewed sense of resolve in the struggle for freedom and equality.
The formation of this group marked the beginning of Du Bois’ public assault on racial discrimination. The next year the Niagara Movement met on the campus of Storer College in Harpers Ferry. Du Bois referred to the 1906 gathering as “one of the greatest meetings American Negroes ever held.” Du Bois returned to Harpers Ferry 44 years later as the commencement speaker for the 1950 graduating class of Storer College.
Storer college
Harpers Ferry was the home of Storer College. Freewill Baptists opened Storer in 1867 as a mission school to educate formerly enslaved people. For twenty-five years Storer was the only school in West Virginia that offered African Americans an education beyond the primary level
Frederick Douglass and John Brown
Read what the great abolitionist Frederick Douglass had to say about John Brown.
We arrived at our campsite around 3pm to find there is no water in the camp ground. Of course we didn’t discover this until after we spent 30 frustrating minutes in the midday heat struggling with non functional hoses and water taps. So, we use our onboard water until we run out.
The beer we bought earlier is very welcome. We ate out for lunch outside at a deli. Dinner tonight will be a ‘snacky plate’ ( a term our grandchildren use ) and icecream for dessert.
Louise and Brian McLeod Travel Blog 
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