Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park-Ferry Hill-Sharpsburg, MD - National Parks of the World on Waymarking.com

Photos taken on July 16, 2013

C & O Canal Towpath Lock 38, Mile 72.7


From the National Park website:

The grounds of Ferry Hill are open to the public, but there is no public access to any buildings.

". . . on a hill over against Shepherdstown, where from the gallery of its old house I could look for miles out into Old Virginia."
- Henry Kyd Douglas

Located in Sharpsburg, Maryland, with a view toward Shepherdstown, West Virginia, Ferry Hill Place has stood for two centuries above the Potomac River and the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, participating in and watching history pass by. Ferry Hill is best known as the home of Henry Kyd Douglas, Confederate Officer and author of his Civil War personal account, "I Rode With Stonewall."

In the 18th and early 19th century German settlers migrated from Pennsylvania south into Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, where they then farmed the rich soil. These settlers crossed the Potomac using Packhorse Ford and later Blackford's Ferry below Ferry Hill. Come the 1830s the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal crossed this north/south route, tapping the river waters to provide a controlled water transportation route into western Maryland.

John Blackford who built and resided at Ferry Hill benefited from this crossroads of commerce. Unlike southern plantations, Ferry Hill profited from not just one cash crop, such as tobacco or cotton, but from a variety of crops, including grains, wheat, corn, an orchard, and even lumbering.

"I was with the company that set fire to [the bridge], and when . . . I saw the glowing windows in my home on the hill beyond the river . . . I realized that the war had begun."
- Henry Kyd Douglas, 1861

(visit link)

Park Name: Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park-Ferry Hill Historic/Cultural Park: yes Natural Park: no Recreation Area: no Wildlife Refuge: no Park Website: [Web Link] Type of Listing: Entrance Fees in Local Currency: 0.00 (listed in local currency) Dates of Access: From: 01/01/2022 To: 12/31/2022 Hiking: no Camping: no Bicycling: no Horseback Riding: no Off-Roading: no Swimming: no Snorkling/Scuba: no Boating: no Rock Climbing: no Fishing: no Other Park Type not listed above: Not listed Other Type Detail: Not listed Hours available: Not listed Other Activities: Not listed

Visit Instructions:

A log will require a recent photograph at the coordinates. Some of these locations will be placed for the scenery, so a gpsr will just ruin the picture.

If you don't have a digital camera post a descriptive log.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   08/20/2022 Don.Morfe visited it