Harpers Ferry Tour: Discover the Tales of John Brown's Raid, And More
It was the dress rehearsal for the American Civil War. John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry was a gambit in the fight to abolish slavery. Drives & Detours self-guided tour will take you through the site's extensive history while showing you the beauty of the Shenandoah Valley
The historic West Virginia town of Harpers Ferry is most famous as being the site of the opening salvo of the American Civil War — John Brown’s Raid — — Girma Nigusse / Unsplash
Built on the floodplains where the Potomac River and Shenandoah meet under the hills, Harpers Ferry is a small town with a big impact. This National Historical Park, full of natural beauty, has played an outsized role in the history of the United States.
The historic West Virginia town is most famous as being the site of the abolitionist John Brown's Raid, which is often considered to be the opening salvo of the American Civil War. Brown's failed assault on the United States arsenal in Harpers Ferry was an attempt to kickstart and arm a slave revolution. While the raiders were stopped, they went down in history as heroes.
But the town and the surrounding national park are much more than a shrine to Brown and his men. It offers so much more than we can fit into this guide.
Discover Harpers Ferry with the Drives & Detours mobile app and GPS-triggered audio tours. Our self-guided tours take you on a cruise through surreal desert landscapes where you’ll find iconic stops like Skull Rock, Hidden Valley, and the Cholla Cactus Garden—along with hidden gems you might otherwise miss.
John Brown's Fort
The fire engine house that became John Brown’s Fort was one of the few buildings in Harpers Ferry to survive the Civil War — Kirt Morris / Unsplash
John Brown's Fort, as it is now known, was originally the fire engine house for the armory and was the only of its buildings to survive the Civil War. It was here that Brown and his raiders holed up once the local militias arrived to retake the town.
The local militias were unable to force the raiders from the engine house. Their weapons were poor at long range, Brown and his men had fortified the building, and, perhaps most importantly, they were a drunken rabble.
Because Brown had not planned a quick escape from Harpers Ferry, he was happy to dig in and stayed too long. However, the thousands of slaves he expected to arrive as reinforcements did not arrive. It was a detachment of U.S. Marines who turned up instead. They were led by Robert E. Lee, who would soon take charge of the Confederate armies during the Civil War.
Lee gave Brown a chance to surrender before his men launched an assault on the engine house. Brown refused, and his fort fell quickly—the Marines took just three minutes to take it. Some of the raiders were killed, a few escaped, and most, including Brown, were captured.
The fort is not in its original location. This is now an embankment built by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and the headquarters of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. The building has been moved to Chicago, to Storer College in the town, and to various sites. The National Park Service acquired John Brown's Fort for preservation in the 1960s, before moving it to the current location in Arsenal Square.
The Importance of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park
Harpers Ferry is an area of national historic, natural, and cultural importance — Joshua Hummell / Unsplash
Harpers Ferry is more than the site of John Brown's Raid. It is an area of national historic, natural, and cultural importance. The town was the location of the first railroad junction in the United States, numerous devastating Civil War battles, a Black college at the center of the fight against Jim Crow laws, and one of the first hotspots for African-American tourism.
The park is full of fishing, boating, and rafting, as well as plentiful hiking through its forests and along the Appalachian Trail. 70% of the park is forested, mostly with chestnut oak trees, and the banks and floodplains of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers are often covered with wildflowers.
More than 120 species of birds can be spotted, and it's not unusual to catch sight of a white-tailed deer. A lot of scientific research is carried out near Harpers Ferry because so much of the area is protected, and Thomas Jefferson wrote: "The passage of the Potomac through the Blue Ridge is perhaps one of the most stupendous scenes in Nature."
At the moment, the Black Voices Museum, A. Burton Fine Watch Repair and Jewelry Store, Civil War Museum, and Harper House are closed for renovations or repairs.
Appalachian Trail Conservancy Headquarters
The Appalachian Trail runs for more than 2,000 miles from Maine through West Virginia to Georgia — Girma Nigusse / Unsplash
Harpers Ferry is almost exactly at the halfway point of the Appalachian Trail, making it the perfect base for the organisation that works to conserve it. The Appalachian Trail runs for more than 2,000 miles from Maine through West Virginia to Georgia. Visiting the Conservancy Headquarters is an important part of hiking the trail. Hikers receive their documentation for making it halfway, rest, and take plenty of pictures—the building has become an icon.
Because of this important ritual, the Conservancy Visitor Center is full of exhibits, family activities, a gift shop, and a lounge where hikers can put their feet up. One of the main things to see is the gallery containing over 30,000 pictures of hikers who have passed through Harpers Ferry. The Headquarters is also the perfect place to ask any questions you may have if you are planning to walk one of the hiking trails around the area, even if your plans are less intense than walking the full Appalachian Trail.
Storer College & the Niagara Movement
Storer College was founded as the Civil War came to a close. It started as an elementary school for children who had been enslaved, and grew into the only school for the Black community in West Virginia. By the start of the 20th century, it was at the heart of the battle against Jim Crow laws and central to the emerging Civil Rights Movement.
The education of former slaves and free Black people was considered essential by the community—and it was controversial. Teaching Black people, even those who were free, had been against the law in Virginia before the Civil War, and educating slaves was a capital offense. Some of the white population of Harpers Ferry and nearby Bolivar vandalised Storer, and the Ku Klux Klan threatened the school. Students carried arms on their way to and from classes.
Storer was of great symbolic importance to the African American community across the United States. The great abolitionist Frederick Douglass, himself an escaped slave, was a trustee and delivered one of his most famous speeches at the college. It was also the location for the first meeting of the Niagara Movement in the United States in 1906.
The Niagara Movement was the predecessor of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and was led by W. E. B. Du Bois. At the meeting, the Movement visited John Brown's Fort, which was soon moved to the college, and demanded rights, recognition, and equality.
St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church
St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church served the Irish population who cam to work on the canals and railroads — Wen Zhu / Unsplash
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal was one of the great infrastructure projects of 19th-century America. Once the Erie Canal connected the Great Lakes to the Atlantic, many traders further south started calling for their own transport links. Many parts of the Potomac River were impassable, and the canals that had been built around these were unreliable and difficult to navigate upstream. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal aimed to replace that, although it faced competition from the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the first in the United States, which traveled in the same direction.
Many of the labourers who worked on the construction of the new canal and railroad were Irish Catholics, who settled in Harpers Ferry. St. Peter's became their church. It was the only one to survive the Civil War, but the original design no longer remains. The church was remodelled with a beautiful Gothic design in the 1890s. St. Peter's has commanding views over the meeting of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers, and its spire can be seen from throughout the valley.
Bolivar Heights Battlefield
Harpers Ferry was the site of one of the most important engagements of the American Civil War — Kylan Hill / Unsplash
Harpers Ferry is found in an incredibly strategic location and is the site of one of the most important Civil War battlefields. It's at the confluence of major rivers, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and Baltimore and Ohio Railroad ran through it. The federal armory in Harpers Ferry—John Brown's target—was the second to be built by the government.
Surrounding the town are three hills, and whoever controlled those commanded the communication and supply lines of the Shenandoah Valley. The heights were highly contested during the Civil War.
A stop on the Drives & Detours walking tour is the Bolivar Heights Battlefield. The blood of tens of thousands of Americans was spilled here across five main engagements. The most important was the Battle of Harpers Ferry during General Robert E. Lee's Maryland Campaign, which is pivotal in American History.
Lee sent Major General "Stonewall" Jackson to take Harpers Ferry, and the Union troops made a grave mistake when his men arrived—they defended Bolivar Heights, but not the most important, Maryland Heights. It was a rout. Almost 13,000 Union soldiers were killed compared to just 286 from the Confederate army. Another 12,500 Union men were captured—the largest number until World War II.
Bolivar Heights was preserved by the American Battlefield Trust, and it is now part of the National Historic Park. You'll see cannon, walk the trenches, and discover its bloody history on your visit.
Jefferson Rock
Just outside the historic town, you'll find Jefferson Rock. This formation is named for the third president of the United States, who visited in the 1780s and wrote about the breathtaking views in his Notes on the State of Virginia.
Several slabs of Harper's shale stacked on top of each other comprise the formation, and it is supported by four pillars. These were added in the late 19th century because weathering and souvenir hunters made the base unstable. It was possible to move the top rock with a gentle push.
Jefferson described the magnificence of the natural beauty surrounding Harpers Ferry. Thankfully, this incredible view has been preserved along with the rich history of the area.
Uncover History, Ruins, and River Views on Drives & Detours' Harpers Ferry Self-Guided Tour
Discover Harpers Ferry and its history with Drives and Detours’ self-guided tours — Girma Nigusse / Unsplash
Harpers Ferry is a beautiful sanctuary deep in the woods of West Virginia that is full of history.
Drives & Detours’ Harpers Ferry Audio Walking Tour lets you explore the park at your own pace, and gives you a flexible, informative, and offline-friendly way to discover its stories.
Book your tour online and take it anytime you want, or download the app and purchase your trip when you’re ready. Your adventure through one of the United States' most important national parks begins at the town's Lower Town Train Station.
Our self-guided tours tell you the full stories and cultural history behind Harpers Ferry, as well as take you to other sights, such as the US Armory Site, Lockwood House, and the Appalachian Trail Staircase. We know all the hidden gems Harpers Ferry National Historical Park has to offer, and a few of the ghost stories.
