Harpers Ferry

Nine Carroll County residents riding on inner tubes on the Potomac River near the confluence of the Shenandoah River close to Harpers Ferry, W.Va., were rescued yesterday as they clung to rocks in the swift current, said a spokesman for the Maryland Natural Resources Police. John Surrick said the residents of Mount Airy and Westminster -- ages 16 to 23 -- apparently panicked as they neared the confluence about 4 p.m. He did not know if they abandoned the tubes but said they clung to rocks several yards from shore for about an hour before volunteer firefighters from Dargan and Boonsboro in Maryland and Charlestown, W.Va.

For those looking to get outdoors before going indoors to watch the Orioles and Ravens on television Sunday, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy wants you. As part of the National Public Lands Day, the ATC Visitor Center in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., is hosting its second-annual Family Hiking Day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. next Saturday. Admission is free. According to Javier Folgar, marketing and communications manager for the ATC, the activity in Harpers Ferry grew out of the national event.

To celebrate its 50th anniversary in 1994, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park has scheduled numerous activities.This month, events focus on black history and an exhibit that examines the Niagara Movement, a turn-of-the-century civil rights organization led by W. E. B. DuBois. The organization, a precursor of the NAACP, held its second meeting in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., in 1906. A few years later, many of its members joined the newly formed NAACP. The exhibit, "The Call for Justice and the Struggle for Equality: Niagara and Beyond," will remain through 1994 at the John Brown Museum.

John David Hiteshew Sr. and John David Hiteshew Jr. — both known as David — spent four years walking and exploring hundreds of miles of Maryland railroad trackage to document the industrial infrastructure and physical characteristics of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, the nation's first common-carrier railroad, which began building westward from Baltimore in 1827. They were armed with walking shoes, notepads and a digital camera used to photograph trackage, alignments, curves, grades, tunnels, culverts, bridges — both stone and steel — yards, signals and wayside structures affiliated with the railroad.

HARPERS FERRY, W.Va. - Some historians view John Brown as a terrorist and a murderer. When he was a Kansas militiaman, he participated in the massacre of five members of a pro-slavery family.With only 21 men, including three of his sons and five free blacks, Brown moved on Harpers Ferry on Oct. 16, 1859.His plan was to capture weapons, liberate slaves, then flee into the mountains to lead an army of free blacks in guerrilla warfare against the South.At the time, about 10 percent of Harpers Ferry's residents were black, half of them slaves.

HARPERS FERRY, W.Va -- A stubborn three-day forest fire scorched Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, tying up traffic for several hours yesterday and closing a a stretch of the Appalachian Trail.Park officials said last night that the blaze was under control. More than 20 acres was blackened just west of the historic Potomac River town."Things are much more manageable now than they were a few days ago, but obviously we're still concerned," said Marsha Starky, spokeswoman for the 2,300-acre park, where fall colors in October are as much an attraction as its history.

Fall is a wonderful time to enjoy crisp air and turning leaves in the nearby mountains of Maryland and West Virginia. The historic town of Harpers Ferry, W.Va., located where the Potomac River meets the Shenandoah, offers tours of the historic buildings and sites led by National Park rangers, bike riding and walks along the C&O Canal, hiking on the Appalachian Trail and shopping in a variety of quaint stores, including gift boutiques. The small town has a long history of famous visitors and military events.

This is where the Shenandoah meets the Potomac, where the Appalachian Trail joins the C&O Canal path, where past and present converge as well. A lot of things come together in the misty, mystic hamlet of Harpers Ferry, W.Va. - often, in its history, tragically so. Here, abolitionists led by John Brown clashed with backers of slavery in an ill-fated attempt to take over an arsenal and launch a slave revolt. Here, north meets south, as the two sides did repeatedly - less than two years after Brown's attack - during the Civil War. Control of the town changed hands eight times.

HARPERS FERRY, W.Va. - In life, the newborn boy had nobody. In death, a community came to his side. The people in this Civil War battleground who buried him yesterday called him Baby Christian, a hopeful name for a child who never had a chance. The boy still had his umbilical cord attached when a park ranger found his body here two weeks ago on the banks of the Shenandoah River. He had been wrapped in pink and white blankets, stuffed in a trash bag with barbell weights, and then, investigators believe, tossed alive from the bridge 60 feet above.

A Civil War battlefield and civil rights cornerstone nearly met its demise, with talks of selling the 99-acre Murphy Farm, in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., to a housing developer. Instead, the Trust for Public Land, a preservation group, has agreed to purchase the property, thus saving Murphy Farm from becoming Murphy's Landing and the site of 188 houses. The Murphy Farm announcement was the first of two victories in the area in a continuing battle for public land preservation in an era of development.

Madeline Lenox of Baltimore County writes: I like to hike, but I hate the hassle of having to put a car at the trailhead and a friend's car at the end to create a shuttle. It takes up valuable outdoors time. I'm also not a fan of out-and-back hikes - too boring. What should I do? Outdoors Girl replies: How about a stroll around the world? Just walk out your front door and keep going until you get back. Seriously, though, the answer is a circuit hike. The Potomac Appalachian Trail Club just released the eighth edition of its paperback guide, "Circuit Hikes in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania" (116 pages; $9)

Frank A., Jr A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Saturday, February 21, 2009 at 10:00 A.M. at St. James Catholic Church, 60 Crosswinds Drive, Charles Town, WV 25414. Visitation on Friday from 7 to 9 P.M. at Eackles-Spencer & Norton Funeral Home, US 340 at Halltown Road, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425.

Harpers Ferry, W.Va -- The elderly woman sat in the shade, painstakingly penning her autograph onto yet another program. Precisely 100 hundred years ago, in almost the exact spot, her grandfather, W.E.B. Du Bois, spoke words that electrified the civil rights movement at a historic meeting that many people have never heard of. "We will not be satisfied to take one jot or tittle less than our full manhood rights," Du Bois Irvin's grandfather told a small but influential group of African-Americans who called themselves the Niagara Movement.

Bear Branch offers summer programs Bear Branch Nature Center at Hashawha Environmental Center offers programs for all ages. End of School Campfire for all ages from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday. Hot dogs, s'mores and campfire stories will be featured. The cost is $3 for members and $5 for nonmembers. "Hooked on Fishing, Not on Drugs," fly fishing for teens ages 11 to 15 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Lake Hashawha. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources will offer beginner fly fishing.

On May 19, 2006, KATHERINE MAE KRAMER of Harpers Ferry, WV., loving wife of Joseph G. Kramer, loving mother of Nina Miller and Mark Kramer, loving sister of Mary Harrison and Meredith Gross and loving grandmother of Jessie and Amanda Kramer and Wade, Roy and James Bassford. Services are Services are Sunday, May 21, 2006 at 2:00 P.M. at Eackles-Spencer & Norton Funeral Home, Harpers Ferry, WV, with visitation on Saturday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 P.M. Entombment on May 23 at 11 A.M. at Loudon Memorial Park at Baltimore, MD.

This is where the Shenandoah meets the Potomac, where the Appalachian Trail joins the C&O Canal path, where past and present converge as well. A lot of things come together in the misty, mystic hamlet of Harpers Ferry, W.Va. - often, in its history, tragically so. Here, abolitionists led by John Brown clashed with backers of slavery in an ill-fated attempt to take over an arsenal and launch a slave revolt. Here, north meets south, as the two sides did repeatedly - less than two years after Brown's attack - during the Civil War. Control of the town changed hands eight times.

HARPERS FERRY, W.Va. -- John Brown's last shot came from the fire engine house at the foot of Shenandoah Street; his Bible and a broadsword from Bleeding Kansas are on display in a nearby museum. Nearly 145 years have passed since Brown led 21 raiders on a mission to seize 100,000 guns stored here at the federal arsenal. A militant abolitionist, Brown hoped that runaway slaves would join his "liberation army," which would take refuge in nearby mountains and fight a guerrilla war against slaveholders.

"The passage of the Patowmac through the Blue Ridge is perhaps one of the most stupendous scenes in Nature. You stand on a very high point of land. On your right comes up the Shenandoah, having ranged along the foot of the mountain a hundred miles to seek a vent. On your left approaches the Patowmac in quest of a passage also. In the moment of their junction they rush together against the mountain.... This scene is worth a voyage across the Atlantic."Thomas Jefferson about Harpers Ferry, 1783The picturesque landscape of Harpers Ferry still looks much as it did in Thomas Jefferson's time.

Pointing to a picture of ironworkers in Laurel, Jim Hughes saw his own childhood. "This building looks like my neighborhood," the 60-year-old said. An hour later, Robert Greenfield, 78, scanned a list of 35 people lynched in Maryland. "My grandmother's brother should be on here," he said. A day after the ceremonial opening of the $34 million Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture, a flood of visitors descended upon the state's newest attraction. Many of them found personal history inside.

On April 5, 2005 ALBERT BRIDGES, SR., of Purcellville, VA; loving husband of Joan Bridges; loving father of Beverly Behegan, Cynthia Morgan, Albert Bridges, Jr.; Lawrence, David and Brett Fulton; loving brother of Paul Bridges. Also survived by 11 grandchildren and five great grandchildren. Memorial services on Friday, April 8, 2005 at 2 p.m. at the Eackles-Spencer Funeral Home, 970 Washington St., Harpers Ferry, WV.