Walking Guide to Upper Town Harpers Ferry

Many houses in Harpers Ferry today were constructed in the
19th century. While some houses built during this time have been
lost to fire, war, or disuse, the remaining housing stock reminds
us of the town’s place in history and how its citizens lived.
Harpers Ferry provides a glimpse into significant change in the
region, from the growth of the railroad, the devastation of war,
and the repeated rebuilding of the town after recurrent flooding.
Throughout the townspeople showed optimism and endurance
INDUSTRY
1800
1810
1820
Armory established
1830
Rail link
1840
1850
Town government
1800-1861
—Thomas Jefferson
“Worth the Trip”
Walking Guide to
Upper Town
Harpers Ferry
During the first 60 years of the 19th century Harpers Ferry
became an industrial town centered primarily on the U.S.
Armory, mills and factories located in Lower Town. Upper Town
grew to meet the housing needs of employees of these industries.
Armory workers rented government-owned “armory dwellings”
built to meet the growing need for housing by the workers and
their families while some larger structures were constructed for
Armory management. Armory dwellings and boarding houses
were the town’s principal housing stock in Upper Town until
private homes started springing up in the 1850’s. At that time
the town became incorporated, streets were laid out and graded
yet remained unpaved, and the U.S. government sold the armory
dwellings and much of its excess property. 1860 Bureau of the
Census records list the population of Harpers Ferry, including
Virginus Island, as “1,251 plus slaves.”
PO Box 1427
Harpers Ferry, WV 25425
304.535.2030
Harpers Ferry
Historic Town Foundation
www.harpersferryfoundation.org
Please visit our website to evaluate this guide. You may also join
and make a tax-deductible contribution to the Foundation on the
website as your part in helping to preserve Harpers Ferry, an
American treasure. Your contributions are gratefully received.
This guide is published by the
Harpers Ferry Historic Town Foundation with financial
assistance from The West Virginia Humanities Council,
a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
as they harnessed the rivers and brought industry and trade to
the region.
Harpers Ferry is not a museum. The structures have been lived
in, modified, restored, modernized, or simply maintained. Enough
reminders of this period remain to help us imagine living with an
outdoor kitchen, a true carriage house, side streets as dirt paths, or
water from the town pump. Upper Town Harpers Ferry has also
been known as Camp Hill since the War of 1812.
WAR
1860
1870
John Brown’s raid
REBUILDING
1880
1890
1900
Floods
The last 35 years of the 19th century
was a period of reconstruction and
gradual growth of the town. Harpers
Ferry faced devastating floods and
the decline of water power as a major
source of power for industry as it
tried to rebuild after the war. In 1865
Storer Normal School was established
on Camp Hill to teach the children of
former slaves. The school thrived and
grew to become Storer College. New
Victorian-style houses were constructed
in Upper Town, some as summer homes.
Just as today, people came to Harpers
Ferry for entertainment, recreation, and
Civil War history.
The Civil War wrought severe damage
or destruction to almost every structure
in Upper Town as Harpers Ferry was
continuously reoccupied by the North
and the South, changing hands numerous
times. Commanding officers confiscated
some houses for headquarters. The military
utilized many Camp Hill homes, churches,
and businesses as hospitals to provide aid
and comfort. Other houses were destroyed
by soldiers for firewood. Most residents
abandoned the town during this period,
suffering charges of sympathizing with
whichever side was not in command.
1865-1900
1861-1865
Raspberry Hill
1 Constructed in 1853, Raspberry Hill’s first
To Lower Town
Armory House #111
Armory House #111 was built by the U.S.
government in 1833 in the Federal style. The
5 Italianate portico and brackets were added in
the 1850’s when the house was sold to Armory
official Daniel Young. During the Civil War
Stonewall Jackson quartered his staff in the
house and later used it as a hospital. At this
intersection all four houses are Armory houses
built before 1837 and altered over time.
C la y
6
10
9
Taylor
Boundary
To Bolivar
St. John’s
Episcopal Church
INDUSTRY
REBUILDING
8 The cornerstone of St. John’s Episcopal
Church was laid in 1895, and the church was
completed in 1899. It is a successor to the
original church building that now exists as
ruins in the National Park. The current church
building is in a simple Gothic style.
1875 House
built as a permanent residence. William Peregoy
came to Harpers Ferry to work as a carpenter
for Storer College and built this house in 1895
in a modified Queen Anne style.
Lutheran Church
Briscoe House
8
Union
6 were summer homes, the Peregoy House was
Briscoe House was built in 1885 by Captain
John Doll who was mayor of Harpers Ferry
at that time. It was used for many years as a
7 women’s dormitory for Storer College. Dr. and
Mrs. Madison Briscoe purchased the house
around 1954. The current owners purchased
the house in 1994 from the Briscoes and operated a bed and breakfast there until 2005. The
original house had a mansard roof which was
later covered by its present roof.
Jackson
7
Unlike many of the homes on Ridge, which
Peregoy House
4
McDowell
5
4
The original church building in Lower Town
was used to quarter Union Troops during
the Civil War and did not survive the war.
The Camp Hill-Wesley United Methodist
Church was rebuilt here in Upper Town in
1869 using bricks salvaged from the destroyed
Armory, and greatly expanded in 1947 when
the steeple was added.
2
Gilmore
F ill m o r e
this house was owned by Henry Clowe, a
former Superintendent of the Armory who
supported the Confederacy during the Civil
War. Built by the U.S. government in 1836 in
the Federal style, Armory House #103 was
Victorianized after the Civil War with the
addition of the turret. The porch was further
modified in 1930 by the Cauffman family.
3
Washington
Camp Hill-Wesley
United Methodist Church
3 At the time of John Brown’s raid in 1859
1
Columbia
Ridge
Armory House #103
Cemetery
Storer College National Park Service
Public Square
Public Square was laid out in 1852. The small
building that is set back from the other houses
2 is the original firehouse and Town Hall. The
town pump was also located here. The wooden
bandstand, originally from Island Park amusement park, was brought up the hill in 1908 and
is still in use. The Civil War cannon, which
once sat on its carriage in front of the John
Brown engine house, was moved to Public
Square in 1924 as a war memorial.
Jefferson
Rock
High
deed was signed in 1854 by Jefferson Davis,
Secretary of War. The house is constructed of
local stone from the Potomac and Shenandoah
Rivers and the standing seam metal roof has
the original cast iron snowbirds.
Storer College gave one of its faculty
members a third of an acre on which her
9 husband built this house in 1875. The home
is in the Queen Anne style and has elaborate
woodwork. The current owner, architect
for the National Park, has extensively restored
the exterior.
The Lutheran Church was built in 1850 as
a single story brick structure with the upstairs
balcony visible through the windows. On
10 the morning of October 17, 1859 the church
bell rang a warning of the John Brown raid.
The church then served as a gathering place
for citizens taking action against Brown’s
raiders. It was used as a Union hospital during
the Civil War and is largely unaltered from
that time.
As you walk around please remember these are private homes
and respect that privacy.