Five States in an Hour

Leaving Winchester July 6th
What does Chester in town’s name mean?
Slept in, its 11am, beautiful morning after a few rainy days.
Take Hwy 50/17 east, thought I was going to take 11N, oh well, pass Southern BBQ joint, vegetable stands, farms and migrant workers on the Lord Fairfax Hwy. into West Virginia, another surprise, passing Charles Town in rolling hills and small mountains to Harpers Ferry, I know less about this place then I should or have forgotten.
Time to explore.
Harpers Ferry sits where the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers meet, with bluffs surrounding this picturesque town. The history of Harpers Ferry has few parallels in the America drama. It is more than one event, one date, or one individual. It is multi-layered, involving a diverse number of people and events, decisions and actions that influenced the course of our nation’s history. Harpers Ferry witnessed the first successful application of interchangeable parts, the arrival of the first successful American railroad, John Brown’s attack on slavery, the largest surrender of Federal troops during the Civil War, and the education of former slaves in one of the earliest integrated schools in the United States. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Meriwether Lewis, John Brown, Robert E. Lee, J.E.B. Stuart, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, George Custard, Phillip Sheridan, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglas, W.E.B. Du Bois and many others.
Most inspiring to me was the abolitionist John Brown, he believed he could free the slaves, and he selected Harpers Ferry as his starting point. Determined to steal the 100,000 weapons at the arsenal, the US Armory and Arsenal was established here in the 1790’s, Brown was to use the mountains for guerrilla warfare, and he began his raid on Sunday evening Oct. 16, 1859. His 21 man self-styled “army of liberation,” which included three of his sons and five free African-Americans, seized the armory and several other strategic points. Thirty six hours after the raid began, with most of his men killed or wounded, Brown was captured in the armory fire engine house, also known as “John Brown’s Fort”, when US Marines stormed the building, brought to trail at nearby Charles Town, Brown was found guilty of treason against the commonwealth of Virginia, conspiring with slaves to rebel, and murder. He was hanged on Dec. 2, 1859. John Brown short lived raid failed, but his trail and execution focused the nation’s attention on the moral issue of slavery and headed the country toward civil war.
So many important events happened here, the Civil War was profound and disastrous effect on Harpers Ferry, because of the town’s location on the strategic Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at the end of thru Shenandoah Valley, Union and Confederate troop movements were frequent, the town changed hands 8 times between 1861 and 1865.
The Niagara Movement, a cornerstone of Modern Civil Rights, is celebration it’s 100th year on August 18th-20th, 2006, they held their first meeting on American soil in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia in 1906. At the dawn of the twentieth century, the outlook for civil rights for African Americans was at a precarious crossroads. Failed Reconstruction, the Supreme Court’s separate but equal doctrine (Plessy v. Ferguson), coupled with Booker T. Washington’s Accommodations policies threatened to compromise any hope for full and equal rights under the law.
Harvard educated W.E.B.Du Bois committed himself to a bolder course, his appeal for civil rights, he acted in 1905 by drafting a “Call” to a few select people. The call had two purposes; “organized determination and aggressive action on the part of men and women who believed in Negro freedom and growth,” and opposition to “present methods of strangling honest criticism”. The movement was born.
So much history and change in one place, Harper’s Ferry ignited change throughout its history, I am overwhelmed, impressed by, humbled and in awe of this place.
This has to be one of the most important places in American History.
Leaving Harper’s Ferry for Gettysburg, what was it like, living in this region during the Civil War, a couple hours drive by car, the stories these hills could tell.
Taking the back way, back into Virginia for a couple of miles, cross the Potomac River, though Brownsville, attempting to stay close to the Appalachian Trail as possible.
Right on 40E , called the Old Natural Pike, then Hwy 17, small road, going south, not north, hard to tell, a few miles one way, then back again.
Rolling hills, small mountains in the distance, you can tell where towns or hamlets are, by the steeple tops of churches poking up though the trees.
17N all back country, crossing Middle Creek numerous times, cooler down by the river, into Smithsburg, the Dixie Eatery, roller coaster ride, farm town of Letters burg, right turn 418E into a big open valley.
Now Pennsylvania, five states in an hour: Virginia, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, and then Pennsylvania.
16E, the Buchanan Trial, pass Red Run Grill, says, Carolina Pulled Pork, straddling the Mason-Dixon Line, sweet corn for sale, my goal this morning was to get to Blue Ridge Summit, only a few miles up the road, turn north on 116N, Frontier BBQ at the Jct. then North to Gettysburg, home of my sister Donna’s final resting place, there is lots to see, reenactment this weekend and 15,000 bikers for a rally, rumble, rumble, rumble.
But it’s time for family and remembrance.
Next up: Amish county and the trap door into Jersey.
58.5 mpg/ 120.7 miles traveled