Harpers Ferry

Basecamp to visit 3 new National Park Sites & 4 repeats:

We stayed in Harpers Ferry, WV near the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers and the Tri-State Border of West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia, for 5 nights. We spent all 4 days visiting 7 National Park Sites. This was made easier with some “overlap”, e.g. the Appalachian Trail goes through Harpers Ferry, and the Potomac Heritage Trail is on the C&O Canal Towpath for 184.5 of its 710 miles.

Civil War Battlefields (1 new, 1 repeat)

• Monocacy National Battlefield (#328), site of The Battle that Saved Washington, DC (Lee’s 3rd and last invasion into the North). During the summer of 1864, the Confederacy carried out a bold plan to turn the tide of the Civil War in their favor.  They planned to capture Washington, DC and influence the election of 1864.  On July 9, however, Federal soldiers outnumbered three to one, fought gallantly along the banks of the Monocacy River in an effort to buy time for Union reinforcement to arrive in Washington, DC. Battle lost. DC saved.
• Antietam National Battlefield (#28-Revisit…1st time Jan 2013), site of The Bloodiest Day in American History–Hope for Freedom. Here 23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing after twelve hours of savage combat on September 17, 1862. The Battle of Antietam ended the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia’s first invasion into the North and led Abraham Lincoln to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.
  
  We spent 4-5 hours at each, on 2 different afternoons. We watched their movies, explored their VC’s, and did their driving tours to key sites of the battles, many being on farms at the respective locations. At Monocacy, we also learned how to pronounce Monocacy…Mon ah’ cah see…and did a little hiking on Worthington Ford Trail. How could we not? At Antietam, we got there in time for a Ranger Talk about the battle and the landscape.

“Just” a Greater DC Park (1 new)

• Catoctin Mountain Park (#329), where the WPA and the CCC gave this land a second opportunity and through re-growth, a new role as a recreation area, intended to be a Maryland State Park. However, during WWII, Camp #3 became a Presidential Retreat, so the land around remained in Federal Hands, and only the southern portion became a Maryland State Park. We visited both the east and west sides (road through the park closed in the middle for repaving) and did a little hiking to an overlook and to see some historical sites…remnants of the charcoal and iron industry (which denuded the trees), an old moonshine still, and a sawmill site. And, no, we did not see Camp David.

Long Trails & History Parks (1 new, 2 repeats (sort of))

• Cheasapeake and Ohio Canal NHP (#87-Revisited), preserves America’s early transportation history, and runs along the Potomac River for 184.5 Miles, from Georgetown in Washington, D.C., to Cumberland, Maryland. Operating for nearly 100 years, the canal was a lifeline for communities along the Potomac River as coal, lumber, and agricultural products floated down the waterway to market. Today, while much of the canal is dried up ditch, the Towpath serves as a 184.5 Mile Hiking/Biking Trail, and along it are remnants of Canal Locks, Aqueducts, and other related historic places.
• Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail (#330), a trail network of 710 miles, following the Potomac River from Cheasapeake Bay to the Allegheny Highlands, rich in both history and recreation. In the “middle”, 184.5 miles of it is the Cheasapeake & Ohio Canal Towpath.
• Appalachian National Scenic Trail (#86-Revisited), the 2,190+ mile long public footpath that traverses the scenic, wooded, pastoral, wild, and culturally resonant lands of the Appalachian Mountains, and whose headquarters and “psychological halfway point” are in Harpers Ferry. 
  
  We visited the Cushwa Basin Visitor Center (for the C&O Canal and the Potomic Heritage), at mile 99.8 along the C&O Canal towpath in Williamsport, Washington County, MD. Situated at the confluence of the Conococheague Creek and the Potomac River, a half-mile rewatered section of canal leads through the turning basin, under the only railroad lift bridge on the canal, and continues to Lockhouse 44 and the adjacent lock. The Conocheague Aqueduct is located across from the turning basin. We walked the towpath up to Milepost 101, down to Milepost 99 and back, crossing the canal on the railroad lift bridge.
  
  On our Harper Ferry day, we crossed the Potomac River on the Appalachian Trail to walk a mile or so on 3 trails at once…the Appalachian NST, the C&O Canal Towpath, and the Potomic Heritage NST, all around Milepost 60 of the C&O Canal Towpath. We had done a few yards of this in 2016, our first and only “visit” to the C&O Canal, not aware it was the Potomic Heritage, as well. We did also “hike” a bit more of the AT in Harpers Ferry, where it goes through town, up some stone stairs.

Last, but not Least Park (1 repeat, last day, no driving)

• Harpers Ferry NHP (#88-Revisited), at the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers, on the ancestral home of the Tuscarora and Shawnee people. Harpers Ferry witnessed the first successful application of interchangeable manufacture, the arrival of the first successful American railroad, John Brown’s attack on slavery, the largest surrender of Federal troops during the Civil War, and the education of formerly enslaved people in one of the earliest integrated schools in the United States. And let’s not forget that Merrwether Lewis got most of his supplies to explore the Northwest here.
  
  This trip we mostly visited Lower Town, exploring all the museums and displays, and, as mentioned above, hiked the 3 Trails across the Potomac and the Appalachian Trail in town up to Jefferson Rock.

And now have arrived in southeast Pittsburgh

Our 2026 Travels are done for now. Over the next few days, we’ll be visiting family, cleaning & storing Lizzy and The Monster, and…flying home on Tuesday for 6 weeks!

Back to Streaming to National Parks in mid-June. We will spend the first month mostly visiting family in New Jersey and Massachusetts, but…we do have 3 National Park Sites in those 2 states, yet to visit, too!

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