Harper’s Ferry — Finkel Family Adventures

Jun 27

Jun 27 Harper’s Ferry

Harper’s Ferry is a historic town in West Virginia located at the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers, right where Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland meet. It is best known as the site of John Brown’s 1859 abolitionist raid, which pushed the nation toward Civil War. It is also just about the half-way point of the Appalachian Trail, which stretches 1200 miles in each direction towards Georgia or Maine, respectively.

The entire town is preserved as a National Historic Park and proved to be a delightful place to visit. After the various Finkel debacles of Gettysburg and Antietam, it was just what we needed to get back into peak road-trip mode.

Our first afternoon in Harper’s Ferry, we rallied for a hike from the visitor center into town and back. The 4-ish mile loop trail, which meandered along the Shenandoah River (cue endless renditions of John Denver’s Country Roads…) and was a fun way to be introduced to the area.

Our second day allowed us to explore in earnest. We spent an hour or so checking out the town exhibits and making a pit stop for a mood-boosting iced latte.

Then, we set out across a pedestrian bridge, which took us back into Maryland for a 4.5 mile hike into the mountains to a beautiful lookout spot called Maryland Heights. From here, we were treated to a beautiful vista with views of both rivers and the town in between.

Toby and Flora had an excellent time on both hikes.

With an open afternoon back at camp, I indulged both kids in their requests. For Norah, that meant a visit to Waffle House, which she has only seen on social media.

For Ben, ever the Scout and whittler, it meant following GPS to a random address in the hopes of getting some fresh wood.

Yes, dear readers, Ben scouted a local saw mill on google maps and so we set off to “Cold Storage Road” on a quest that felt like the start of a horror movie and even passed an abandoned house that is just waiting to be used on the set of “The Last of Us.”

But, much to our surprise, we ended up at the most delightful spot, filled with beautiful wood for flooring and furniture, and they did, indeed, have $1 scrap wood that couldn’t have been a better souvenir for Ben.