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the return to harper's ferry
Jun. 1st, 2021 09:26 pmwe visited harper's ferry over the holiday weekend. we brought a friend. she protested that she was woefully out of shape and would probably have to turn back from any significant hiking we wanted to do.
ha! she managed the same seven mile hike to the scenic overlook on maryland heights that we did. she wasn't as fast as we were, but this was good for our pacing. we have the bad habit of going up hills as fast as we can, and then stopping to recover. slower is doubtless better.
the last part of the hike is down rocky switchbacks, which was loads of fun. but the view was worth it.
dïe überblønde had gotten out her phone and was taking a panoramic photo while i was getting my camera out. since phones assemble panoramas themselves, and since i'd be reproducing the same image at higher resolution, i didn't see the point of making my own.
that's the lower town, the more historic section of the city. john brown's "fort", the former arsenal fire house, is the building with the big doorways on the left. nearly all the buildings in the picture have some historical significance, have been made up as replicas of buildings that did, or have been turned into museums.
for instance, the building across the street from john brown's fort is the john brown museum, the upper floor of which has a lot of exhibits on frederick douglass. (the upper floor seems to be closed for the plague now.)
hidden behind the trees a block behind the john brown museum is a very clever museum. the torn-up walls and ceilings, along with the pits in the floor, make it appear to be an abandoned building or abandoned archeological dig. but in fact, it's neither: it's a set of exhibits on how archeologists and historians "read" an old building to see when it was built – rarely all at once, because sites and walls tend to be reused – and how it was constructed and used over time. it's really well done. (but too dark inside for photos without a tripod and too cramped to set mine up without getting in everybody's way.)
i'd have taken more pictures, but it seemed to be starting to rain. we decided we'd rather be above the rocky switchbacks before the drizzle turned into an expected downpour. but the drizzle fizzled.
so, more history!
harper's ferry changed hands eight times during the civil war, and eventually, the forces of good realized they'd have to hang on to it, the city being a vital railroad junction and all. so, they fortified maryland heights, dragging multi-ton artillery pieces up the mountainside, and building some defensive positions.
the highest position was a stone fort, but between the threat of rain and our own tiredness, we decided we'd just look at the park service's pictures. we did get to the 30-pounder battery, which was protected by a rampart. it's little more than a ditch with all the dirt piled up on one side, with cannon behind it. it's slowly turning back to wilderness, an oak having laid claim to the heights:
it's a little hard to take pictures of a rampart, since from either inside or outside, it looks like nothing more than an abrupt rise. there's a boardwalk over the top of it, and I stood there to take this shot, so there's another half of the rampart behind me.
--
should you find yourself in harper's ferry, i'd recommend trying two places to eat: yatai hibachi, a food truck, which is surprisingly good for being in the middle of nowhere. also the anvil restaurant, which is fancy american food. mmm-mmm! we recovered from our hike with their peach cobbler.
ha! she managed the same seven mile hike to the scenic overlook on maryland heights that we did. she wasn't as fast as we were, but this was good for our pacing. we have the bad habit of going up hills as fast as we can, and then stopping to recover. slower is doubtless better.
the last part of the hike is down rocky switchbacks, which was loads of fun. but the view was worth it.
dïe überblønde had gotten out her phone and was taking a panoramic photo while i was getting my camera out. since phones assemble panoramas themselves, and since i'd be reproducing the same image at higher resolution, i didn't see the point of making my own.
that's the lower town, the more historic section of the city. john brown's "fort", the former arsenal fire house, is the building with the big doorways on the left. nearly all the buildings in the picture have some historical significance, have been made up as replicas of buildings that did, or have been turned into museums.
for instance, the building across the street from john brown's fort is the john brown museum, the upper floor of which has a lot of exhibits on frederick douglass. (the upper floor seems to be closed for the plague now.)
hidden behind the trees a block behind the john brown museum is a very clever museum. the torn-up walls and ceilings, along with the pits in the floor, make it appear to be an abandoned building or abandoned archeological dig. but in fact, it's neither: it's a set of exhibits on how archeologists and historians "read" an old building to see when it was built – rarely all at once, because sites and walls tend to be reused – and how it was constructed and used over time. it's really well done. (but too dark inside for photos without a tripod and too cramped to set mine up without getting in everybody's way.)
i'd have taken more pictures, but it seemed to be starting to rain. we decided we'd rather be above the rocky switchbacks before the drizzle turned into an expected downpour. but the drizzle fizzled.
so, more history!
harper's ferry changed hands eight times during the civil war, and eventually, the forces of good realized they'd have to hang on to it, the city being a vital railroad junction and all. so, they fortified maryland heights, dragging multi-ton artillery pieces up the mountainside, and building some defensive positions.
the highest position was a stone fort, but between the threat of rain and our own tiredness, we decided we'd just look at the park service's pictures. we did get to the 30-pounder battery, which was protected by a rampart. it's little more than a ditch with all the dirt piled up on one side, with cannon behind it. it's slowly turning back to wilderness, an oak having laid claim to the heights:
it's a little hard to take pictures of a rampart, since from either inside or outside, it looks like nothing more than an abrupt rise. there's a boardwalk over the top of it, and I stood there to take this shot, so there's another half of the rampart behind me.
--
should you find yourself in harper's ferry, i'd recommend trying two places to eat: yatai hibachi, a food truck, which is surprisingly good for being in the middle of nowhere. also the anvil restaurant, which is fancy american food. mmm-mmm! we recovered from our hike with their peach cobbler.