Harpers Ferry

Last weekend, Ward and I wanted to get out of the house. We weren't in very good moods and thought a distraction was needed. After several considerations, we headed for Harpers Ferry, WV, which was about an hour or so from our house.

Harpers Ferry is a small historic town that is perhaps most famous for John Brown's Raid in 1859. Brown was an abolitionist and attacked a federal armory there hoping to start a liberation movement among the slaves. Things went badly for him and he was eventually hanged for treason.

However, there is more to see than the spot where Brown's raid took place. The town has many of the original houses that have been turned into museums. But this visit, we didn't go to study the civil war or way of life 150 years ago, we went to see a collapsible boat designed by Merriweather Lewis, of Lewis and Clark fame. We have visited Harpers Ferry a few times over the years and had never heard of this boat. We saw it online and we were curious.

Harpers Ferry is a National Park and as national parks are so good at, they had a bus service to take us into town. The day was a little cold and windy (or refreshing as Ward would say) so I didn't take many pictures because my hands were in my pockets most of the time.  However, below are a few of them.

Harpers Ferry is interesting geographically. It is at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers and is where Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia meet. We were not at a good angle for a shot, but this is where the two rivers meet.

The Appalachian Trail goes through the town, so Ward has visited the area more than I have on backpacking trips. Notice the railroad bridge in the background. There is a close up of it in the next picture.

There was a nice footbridge across the river next to the railroad tracks that we crossed to the other side to explore. However, something happened along the way back. I remembered I was afraid of heights and decided the best idea was to get back to solid ground as soon as possible. That's me hightailing it in the blue. Ward took his time examining how the bridge was built. He said the only thing that would have made it better was if a train had crossed while he was on it.

However, we did see three different trains throughout the afternoon. I enjoyed them along with Ward when I was on terra fima.

This is where John Brown's raid took place. Have you noticed that we're meandering a bit on our way to find the collapsible boat?

Not only did Lewis build his boat here, he secured other supplies for his trip.

The boat was to be carried with the other equipment and used in inaccessible areas where the wooden boats wouldn't go. The details of the boat did not photograph well, but you can get an idea of how big it was from Ward at the edge of the picture. The original boat was never found, but this replica was built from Lewis's notes.

The collapsible iron frame was covered with animal skins and sealed with pine tar. It did well in tests on the Potomac River at Harpers Ferry.  However, the exploration party didn't need to use the boat until Montana where there were no pine trees for tar to seal the seams. The other things they tried as sealants didn't work, so down it went. I was disappointed to hear that it didn't work, but probably not as much as Lewis and Clark and the others on the exposition. 

We came home in a better mood and did a little of our own exploring in our yard where we found these cosmos that seemed to have gown a foot overnight.