I warned my driver that we wouldn't be driving on interstates all the time. So Mary (our GPS) and I plotted a "shortcut" to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. Actually it was shorter and really really pretty, but the roads got narrower and narrower and curvier and curvier and finally turned to gravel....but I told him just a mile or so and it will be better, and it was.
The scenery was beautiful. The Blue Ridge Mts were on our left and pretty hills to the right. Lots of beautiful forests. Everything is in bloom here all at once - dogwoods, redbuds, forsythia, wedding veil, tulips, daffodils, wisteria and LILACS!!!!!!!
I forgot to mention the LILACS yesterday at Monticello. I wanted to curl up under the bush like Ferdinand the Bull and just smell the flowers. I really wanted to at least pull a couple of flowers off the branch so I could smell them all afternoon, but I restrained myself. I also had the urge all day long to jump out of the car and grab a branch off a bush in someone's yard, but I haven't done that.....yet. Lilacs remind me of home. Sigh.
We arrived in Harpers Ferry about noon. This is one of only 2 National Parks where the park completely surrounds a town. The other park is in Alaska. We took a shuttle down to Lower Town. If you've never been here and if you ever are anywhere near here, you really need to go. This beautiful little town sits at the place where the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers come together. The picture on the right - we are standing in West Virginia, Maryland is the bluff to the left, and Virginia is that hill downriver in the middle.
The town sits at the bottom of a bluff, right on the two rivers. Half the town is rebuilt and restored old buildings made into museums, and the other half is the town where people live and work. The only way you can tell the difference is if it's a museum or a business, or if there's a sign outside that says "private home".
Harpers Ferry is where "John Brown's body lies a-moldin' in the grave", it's where Merriwether Lewis came to buy a lot of tools and things for his journey, it's where an important Civil War battle took place - the Union held the town but the Rebs surrounded it and took 12,500 men prisoner. But since they didn't have time or resources to transport them to a Southern prison camp, they paroled their prisoners on their honor that they would go home and not fight again until they were exchanged in a prisoner exchange. We saw the first Catholic Church we've seen since we left Memphis. Oodles of Baptist churches, lots of Methodist and Presbyterian, a handful of Episcopals and Church of Christ, but no Catholics until now.
Before the Civil War, Harpers Ferry was a big manufacturing center. One thing they figured out here was how to make rifles with interchangeable parts. Before that each rifle was made separately. If something broke you couldn't just go buy a new part. After the war they never recovered.
There are two railroad tracks that cross the river and come through the town, and there are still trains, in fact the ranger said that there are people who live here and commute by train to work in Washington DC every day. So we walked across the pedestrian bridge next to the tracks to Maryland and back. I'm glad no train came through then - I'm sure it shakes and rattles. Two trains came through after we were safely back on West Virginia soil.
It's all well laid out, there are museums on every aspect of Harper's Ferry history, there are rangers giving talks on all sorts of things, and there seemed to be a ranger around every corner to answer questions. And there are a million miles of hiking trails if you want. You can walk to the Maryland side and climb all the way up to the top of the bluff. I'm sure the view from there is amazing, but we didn't do that. The Appalachia Trail, which goes from Georgia to Maine, runs right through downtown.
There were eagles there, soaring on the air currents.
From Harper's Ferry, we headed toward Gettysburg. We stopped at the welcome center so Armando could get his photo taken with Abe, but we decided not to do the tour. Too much history for one day. We did drive through the delightful town of Gettysburg with its neat old buildings, saw the cemetery where Abe gave his speech, and headed on toward Lancaster, PA.
We drove about 40-50 miles in Lancaster County before we got to our hotel on the east side - technically I think we're in Smoketown or Straussberg - all the towns seem to run together. So far we haven't seen a buggy or a bonnet, maybe tomorrow. We went to Shipshiwarma, Indiana a few years ago and that place seemed to be authentically Amish. So far here it seems authentically tourist. But stay tuned tomorrow after we've explored.
Day 4 - Charlottesville, VA to Lancaster, PA
Monday, May 04, 2015
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States
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Comments

2025-02-08
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MMPLF
2015-05-07
I'm glad you went there. That part of the country is so beautiful. Harper Ferry is a hidden treasures.
Nora Williams
2015-05-09
Like the picture of Armando and Abe!!
Etta
2015-05-11
Beautiful pedestrian bridge. so much history in that area.