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Show IS HIST0R1G PAS! Harper's Ferry One of the Country's Coun-try's Interesting Towns. 2ualnt, Picturesque and Almost Foreign Village In the Shenandoah Shenan-doah Valley Has Prominent Promi-nent Place In History. Harper's Ferry, Va. Among the many interesting towns in the United Unit-ed States, none Is more quaint, picturesque pic-turesque and almost foreign than Harper's Ferry. Everywhere the new Bcreams at the old, while the old retaliates with silence, conscious that Its appeal to the imagination is preponderant. pre-ponderant. Through the business portion por-tion of the little town, runs Susquehanna Susque-hanna street, extending from the station sta-tion to the river from which it takes Its name and uniting with the road which extends for many miles down the valley. The first impression gained of the town, is from this street, and if one is looking for the modern "City Beautiful," disappointment disappoint-ment will surely result for this ancient an-cient street has tales to tell, and memories me-mories to cherish. It is history which claims attention, atten-tion, even before the station is out of sight. Hardly ten steps distant is the monument erected on the spot where John Brown took refuge In the old engine house. There, too, are the tablets which tell all about it, though the "Fort" itBelf, after visiting the World's fair at Chicago, and rusticating rusticat-ing for a few years at Kate Field's summer home on the Susquahanna, has now found a permanent abiding abid-ing place on the grounds of Storer college. A stone's throw from the station a, structure whose horizontal slabs, wrinkled with age, spill over the sidewalk and women, babies, dogs and dirt, fighting for supremacy on the stone doorsteps, tell with the eloquence of action of the decadence wrought by the passing years. It was in the early part of the last century cen-tury that its hospitable doors first opened to the tired wayfarer, its wide verandas echoed to the tread of gay gallant and lady fair, mail from beyond the ferry, sealed and 1 &$$Ni aA lift W H! Scene In Harper's Ferry. without envelopes, or stamps, passed through its portals, and when in 1812, the army of England Invaded the land, the hostelry served as headquarters head-quarters for a panic-stricken countryside. coun-tryside. Yet this is not the oldest spot. Farther down the street looms a cottage cot-tage whose shining coat of whitewash belies its ancient timbers. Part logs and partly of rough-hewn boards, the small house once served as a village Inn, before its older looking competitor competi-tor had dreamed of entering the field. It was here that Washington and some of his officers were several times entertained. It Is now the home of "Uncle Joe." It was earlier still that the town received its name. When Robert Harper, a native of Oxford, England, came to the place in 1747, there was already a man in possession, a squatter squat-ter named Stevens, who lived at "The Hole," in Shenandoah street. Harper, in love with the beauty of the location, bought out Stevens, settled set-tled In his house and established the ferry from which the town takes its name. In 1775, or thereabouts, he erected the old brick house on High street, in which he lived till his death in 1782, and which, half-buried in Ivy, still stands, a fitting monument monu-ment to the good judgment of the old pioneer. Ten years later, when the government govern-ment needed a site for an arsenal, Washington chose Harper's Ferry. In those days water power was even more important than it is at present, pres-ent, and in this particular the location loca-tion was unrivaled. The place could be easily fortified, and it was near enough to the new capital at Washington Wash-ington to be quickly reached. Though the rocky bed of the Potomac and Its Bwlft current precluded navigation, naviga-tion, a canal was feasible and was soon under construction. The canal is still in good condition and for many years has been owned and used by the Chesapeake and Ohio company com-pany in transporting coal from Cumberland Cum-berland to Georgetown. The Shenandoah, "Daughter of the Stars," which unites with the Potomac Poto-mac at Harper's Ferry, is no less swift and rocky than its companion stream, and like that "lordly" river, its waters have been long used for industrial purposes. Mill races were constructed at an early day and ruins of a rifle factory, a flour mill, etc., remains, a subject of question and comment. |