There are actually many trails in this small town, and you can easily make some discoveries following any of its streets on the hills.
A modern home perched high up above the river with a shiny Tesla parked in the front yard. Well-maintained stone-structured old houses. A dilapidated but once glamorous hotel overlooking the Potomac (hopefully soon to be restored to its old day grandeur). Stone stairs, part of the Appalachian trails, leading to St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church (which is almost two century old) on the edge of the cliff above the Shenandoah River, an expansive cemetery (a vantage point itself), and Loudoun Heights in Virginia (if you continue). Of course, historic armory and arsenal factory sites on the river’s bank, past efforts of flood control to protect them, and railroads that used to connect the Government’s industrial town. In its busy downtown, you are likely to be seduced by a tantalizing aroma from some eatery and indulge your sweet tooth, as I am (by a young couple’s juicy beef brisket and homemade ginger cookies).
Indeed, there is so much to take in and so many threads of thought fired up by the town’s rich history that it is hard to focus. Harpers Ferry is not only a place where the two rivers meet but also where the land is divided. Situated between Maryland, a Union state, and Virginia occupied by the Confederacy, it was deeply connected to the Civil War. The town changed hands fourteen times during the war.
