Unlike many American towns, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia is a city so well-preserved that many of the archival photos show buildings that still exist today.
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, sits in the shadow of the
Blue Ridge Mountains
at the confluence of two rivers, the
Potomac
and
Shenandoah
.
Without the influence of John Brown and his raiders, Meriwether Lewis of
Lewis and Clark
fame, and Thomas Jefferson, Harpers Ferry might have remained a sleepy little village. Instead, it became a frequently contested location for troops during the
Civil War
and changed hands eight times. Many of the current shops and restaurants are housed in the restored original buildings, built in the 1800s.
A visit to Harpers Ferry is like stepping back in time to the year 1859, because the town has been restored to that period. It has been designated a
National Historical Park
, with many buildings owned and maintained by the
National Park Service