May 19, 2008

May 19, 2008

We finished our drive through Shenandoah National Park this morning. It seems much prettier today but the weather is also bright and sunny (albeit cold!) Being cold weather weanies now, we forgo any hiking.

We make a brief stop at nearby Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historic Park. This minor Civil War battlefield is a "partnership" park and has no NPS ranger.

We continue across the border to West Virginia and Harpers Ferry National Historic Park. What a gem this place is! The whole antebellum town is preserved as a park. It has something for everybody. The scenery is beautiful sitting on a peninsula at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers. Surrounded by steep cliffs, the Potomac carves the only water route thru the Blue Ridge Mountains. Because of the strategic location, it was a crossroads of history. The fast rivers provided power for the start of the American industrial revolution, especially guns, with the US locating a primary armory here. It was a transportation hub with the B&O railroad and C&O Canal passing by making it a target of the Civil War. Each side held the town four times and a major battle was fought here.

John Brown, the firebrand abolitionist, raided the Federal Armory here, planning to use the arms to promote a slave rebellion. He was captured (by Robert E. Lee), hanged, and became a martyr for anti-slavery. Fearing similar events, the South seceded two years later and the Civil War was on. The guardhouse John Brown took refuge in became a Union pilgrimage site and was even temporarily transported to Chicago for display at the 1893 Columbian Exposition.

There is no public parking in the tight confines of the town so we take a park shuttle from the Visitor Center. We tour each original building in town. Half are historically accurate; the other half contain exhibits on each facet of the town’s colorful history.

Afterwards we walked a portion of the Appalachian Trail to the viewpoint at Jefferson Rock above town. We spend the night at the adjoining KOA Campground.