Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
Posted by: 
bluesnote
N 39° 19.360 W 077° 43.825
18S E 264628 N 4356139
Harpers Ferry is named for Robert Harper who owned a ferry service here in the 18th century.
Waymark Code: WM14J34
Location: West Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 07/13/2021
Views: 6
About the Place: Taken from Wikipedia, "Harpers Ferry, population 286 at the 2010 census, is a historic town in Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States, in the lower Shenandoah Valley. It is situated at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, where the U.S. states of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia meet. It is the easternmost town in West Virginia and during the Civil War was the northernmost point of Confederate-controlled territory.
The town's original, lower section is on a flood plain created by the two rivers and surrounded by higher ground and is within Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Most of the remainder, which includes the more highly populated area, is included in the separate Harpers Ferry Historic District. Two other National Register of Historic Places properties adjoin the town: the B & O Railroad Potomac River Crossing and St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church.
The town was formerly spelled Harper's Ferry with an apostrophe—in the 18th century, it was the ferry owned and operated by Robert Harper—and that form continues to appear in some references."
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About the Person: Taken from the website, "Robert Harper was born in Oxford Township near Philadelphia, Pa., in 1718. A builder and millwright, Harper was engaged by a group of Quakers in 1747 to erect a meeting house in the Shenandoah Valley near the present site of Winchester, Va.
Traveling through Maryland on his way to the Shenandoah Valley, Harper proceeded to "The Hole" where the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers meet. Attracted by the ample waterpower and strategic location for travel and transport, Harper obtained a patent for 125 acres in 1751. Twelve years later, in 1763, the Virginia General Assembly established the town of "Shenandoah Falls at Mr. Harper's Ferry."
In 1775, Harper commenced construction of a new home in the Lower Town. The structure was completed in 1782, but Harper, who died that same year, never occupied the house. Today the Harper House is the oldest surviving structure in the Lower Town."
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