Harpers Ferry

Buddy passed by Harper's Ferry on his way to West Virginia a few weeks ago and thought we should come explore the area. We decided to make a day trip out of it today. Nyla slept in until 10am yesterday but only until 9am today. We were able to leave by 10:30 and she fell asleep in the car. I don't know why she's so tired. It's an hour and a half drive out there. Once we hit Fredericksburg which is an hour away, the terrain becomes much hillier and prettier. I suppose it's actually mountains in the distance but it's weird to call something so short mountains.

We had a brief picnic lunch on arrival but it was quite unpleasant because of the multitude of swarming gnats. They were everywhere and relentless. They favored my eyeballs. Bohdin complained of itchiness. It was hard to see Buddy through the cloud surrounding his head.

We parked at the visitor center and took the shuttle bus to the historic lower downtown. The area is quite scenic. There are tall hills around. The town is located where the Shenandoah and Potomac river merge. It is such a hilly area that walking around town is a workout. There are steps and big grades everywhere. The location on the rivers allowed it to become an industrial center but it also opened it up to mother nature. There is a sign in town showing the height of the various floods throughout time. The most recent floods were in 1996. The water line was very high. Buddy estimates the buildings on main street to be about 150 feet from the river. The waters at that point was 3-4 times taller than Buddy. Over time the buildings even closer to the river have been completely destroyed.

The main street has restored historic buildings with various exhibits inside. My favorite was the general store because the guy inside was so knowledgeable. He was telling me how many people prior to the Civil War did not wear underwear. This was amazing since the pants were incredibly itchy. He also said that it was around this time that shoes started being made for a specific foot. Prior to this a shoe could go on either the left or right foot.

Harper's Ferry exchanged hands during the Civil War 8 times. It has the rivers, the C&O Canal, and some railroad lines running through the town. We didn't see much of the Civil War history of the town. There is also other history but if you're interested I suggest you look at the website. http://www.nps.gov/hafe/

The town built steps out of the natural stone in the area. The hills are faced with large slabs of stone and the steps were just cut right into it. This made for some very uneven steps. We had to climb the steps which led up to the church and was actually part of the Appalachian trail. Going up past the beautiful church are even more stone steps which leads up to Jefferson's rock. Thomas Jefferson stood on the rock and declared it the prettiest site or something. We climbed up there and it is nice. We climbed just a bit further up from there to the cemetery. Bohdin was getting tired and grumpy at that point so we started heading down. After coming down a short way we started counting steps. It was 166 steps to the bottom.

It was a fun outing. Perhaps we'll go back out there again sometime. Bohdin said he liked it. Maybe we can hit it again when there are fewer bugs and it's not as hot and humid. Both Buddy and I would be interested in following the Appalachian trail a bit more.


Standing on a tree that fell in the Shenandoah
 

Holding a ladybug outside of the church
 

Sitting near Jefferson's Rock
 

At the top our climb