Friday, June 1, 2012

return to harper's ferry

Last weekend Ross and I took a Memorial Day hike to Maryland Heights, a short-ish (but demanding) hike that climbs to some cliffs overlooking the über historical town of Harper's Ferry. 


This was not our first trip to Harper's Ferry. Last year we went camping nearby over the Fourth of July weekend and completely fell in love with the town. Not only does it satisfy my nerdiest impulses, but it also happens to be in a breathtakingly beautiful location and not too far (about an hour) from our house. Maryland/West Virginia for the win! 


Before we visited the town, though, we hiked to the top of the cliffs, where we took in the view and made tiny, tiny little rock pylons. Here's mine:


And here's Ross'. His is taller, but mine is better lit.


Ross and Haylie and history:



To get from where we parked across the river to the town we walked for a while along the Appalachian Trail. I'm one of those people who's always secretly wanted to do the whole six month trip, so just walking on the trail for a few minutes was thrilling.


Although Harper's Ferry was much quieter than the last time we were there, we still got to see some reenactors. Love.


As is de rigeur for a trip to Harper's Ferry, I learned something! This time I learned (as will you, if you read the below sign) that Meriwether Lewis stopped in Harper's Ferry to gather supplies for his trip. It was cool to feel like there was a direct relationship between Portland and our new part of the world.


The hike Ross and I took is partially constructed based on old civil war roads. We thought a lot about the people (both Union and Confederate soldiers... Harper's Ferry changed hands a million times) who had taken these roads, and did some old fashioned pretending. I was Captain Pritchett, and Ross was Lieutenant Douglas. We were Union soldiers, for the record, although I have lots of Confederate heritage.


Until next time, Harper's Ferry.

 

4 comments:

  1. Is it okay if I call you guys east coast dorks?
    Good.

    By the way, it's nice to see a new post.

    Also, by the way, Miss USA is this Sunday.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the the "good read". What a quaint town, I would like to visit someday!

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  3. Amtrak stops in Harper's Ferry for about 30 seconds on the way from Chicago to DC. I can't tell you how thrilled and horrified I was to find this out. Thrilled, because hello? I'm a huge history geek, especially in regards to the Civil War. Horrified, because now I've been there twice, and never even been able to breathe in the historic air.

    Also, I miss you.

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  4. Hi -
    I'm Betsy DeVore, director of amrketing for Hagerstown-Washington COunty MD's Convention and Visitors Bureau. I'm writing to inquire if it would be possible for you to let us use your photo at the top of this page, with Ross standing on Maryland Heights, overlooking Harper's Ferry for our Visitor Guide? This location, as you know, is part of Harper's Ferry National Park, yet is in Maryland.

    The theme of this year's Visitr Guide is the Centenniel of the National Parks - our county actually has 5 National Parks, including this gorgeous acreage from Harper's Ferry. We would love to use this photo to highlight the part of Harper's Ferry that is here. We would give you photo credit in the guide's opening page.

    Please advise as soon as possible we are holding off on sending it to the printer so that we can see if we can get this photo from you!

    We would need it sent in high resolution, and my email addy is betsy@visithagerstown.com
    My phone number is 301-791-3246, ext. 14.

    Hope to hear from you!
    Thanks,
    Betsy

    ReplyDelete