Harpers Ferry , West Virginia Harpers Ferry is a historic town in Jefferson County , West Virginia , United States . It was formerly Harper ' s Ferry with an apostrophe and that form continues to appear in some references . It is situated at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers where the U . S . states of Maryland , Virginia and West Virginia meet . It is the easternmost town in West Virginia . The town is located on a low - lying flood plain created by the two rivers and surrounded by higher ground . Historically , Harpers Ferry is best known for John Brown ' s raid on the Armory in 1859 and its role in the American Civil War . The population was 286 at the 2010 census . The lower part of Harpers Ferry is located within Harpers Ferry National Historical Park . Most of the remainder , which includes the more highly populated area , is included in the separate Harpers Ferry Historic District . Two other National Register of Historic Places properties adjoin the town : the B & O Railroad Potomac River Crossing and St . Peter ' s Roman Catholic Church . The Appalachian Trail Conservancy ( ATC ) headquarters is located in Harpers Ferry and the town is one of only a few through which the Appalachian Trail passes directly . Harpers Ferry is also an outdoor recreation destination . Popular activities include white water rafting , fishing , mountain biking , tubing , canoeing , hiking , zip lining , and rock climbing . History . Earlier years . In or about 1750 the English colonist Robert Harper was given a patent on at the present location of the town . In 1761 Harper established a ferry across the Potomac , making the town a starting point for white settlers moving into the Shenandoah Valley and further west . In 1763 the Virginia General Assembly established the town of " Shenandoah Falls at Mr . Harper ' s Ferry . " On October 25 , 1783 , Thomas Jefferson visited Harpers Ferry . He viewed " the passage of the Potomac through the Blue Ridge " from a rock which is now named for him . This stop took place as Jefferson was traveling to Philadelphia and passed through Harpers Ferry with his daughter Patsy . Jefferson called the site " perhaps one of the most stupendous scenes in nature . " George Washington , as president of the Patowmack Company ( which was formed to complete river improvements on the Potomac and its tributaries ) , traveled to Harpers Ferry during the summer of 1785 to determine the need for bypass canals . In 1794 Washington ' s familiarity with the area led him to propose the site for a new United States armory and arsenal . Some of Washington ' s family moved to the area ; his great - great - nephew , Colonel Lewis Washington , was held hostage during John Brown ' s raid in 1859 , and George ' s brother Charles Washington founded the nearby Jefferson County town of Charles Town . In 1796 the federal government purchased a parcel of land from the heirs of Robert Harper . In 1799 construction began on the United States Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry . This was one of only two such facilities in the U . S . , the other being Springfield , Massachusetts . Together they produced most of the small arms for the U . S . Army . The town was transformed into an industrial center ; between 1801 and 1861 , when it was destroyed to prevent capture during the Civil War , the armory produced more than 600 , 000 muskets , rifles and pistols . Inventor Captain John H . Hall pioneered the use of interchangeable parts in firearms manufactured at his rifle works at the armory between 1820 and 1840 ; his M1819 Hall rifle was the first breech - loading weapon adopted by the U . S . Army . Industrialization continued in 1833 when the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal reached Harpers Ferry , linking it with Washington , D . C . A year later , the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad began train service through the town . John Brown ' s raid . On October 16 , 1859 , the radical abolitionist John Brown led a group of 21 men in a raid on the arsenal . Five of the men were African American : three free African Americans , one a freed slave and one a fugitive slave . During this time assisting fugitive slaves was illegal under the Fugitive Slave Act . Brown attacked and captured several buildings ; he hoped to use the captured weapons to initiate a slave uprising throughout the South . The first shot mortally wounded Hayward Shepherd , a free black man who had been a night baggage porter for the B & O Railroad running through Harpers Ferry near the armory . The noise from that shot roused Dr . John Starry from his sleep shortly after 1 : 00 am . He walked from his nearby home to investigate the shooting and was confronted by Brown ' s men . Starry stated that he was a doctor but could do nothing more for Shepherd , and Brown ' s men allowed him to leave . Instead of going home Starry went to the livery and rode to neighboring towns and villages , alerting residents to the raid . When Starry reached nearby Charles Town , the church bells were rung to arouse the citizens from their sleep . John Brown ' s men were quickly pinned down by local citizens and militia , and forced to take refuge in the engine house adjacent to the armory . The secretary of war asked for the assistance of the Navy Department for a unit of United States Marines , the nearest troops . Lieutenant Israel Greene was ordered to take a force of 86 Marines to the town . In need of an officer to lead the expedition , U . S . Army Lieutenant Colonel Robert E . Lee was found on leave nearby and was assigned as commander along with Lt . J . E . B . Stuart as his aide - de - camp . Lee led the unit in his regular civilian clothes , as none of his uniforms was available when he accepted the command . The whole contingent arrived by train on October 18 , and after negotiation failed they stormed the fire house and captured most of the raiders , killing a few and suffering a single casualty themselves . Brown was tried for treason against the State of Virginia , convicted and hanged in nearby Charles Town . Starry ' s testimony was integral to his conviction . Following the prosecution ( by Andrew Hunter ) , " John Brown captured the attention of the nation like no other abolitionist or slave owner before or since . " The Marines returned to their barracks and Col . Lee returned to finish his leave . The raid was a catalyst for the Civil War . Civil War . The Civil War was disastrous for Harpers Ferry , which changed hands eight times between 1861 and 1865 . When Virginia seceded in April 1861 , the U . S . garrison attempted to burn the arsenal and destroy the machinery , to prevent the Confederates from using it . Locals saved the equipment , which the Confederate Army transferred to a more secure location in its capital of Richmond . The US Army never renewed arms production in Harpers Ferry . Because of the town ' s strategic location on the railroad and at the northern end of the Shenandoah Valley , both Union and Confederate troops moved through Harpers Ferry frequently . The town ' s garrison of 14 , 000 Federal troops played a key role in the Confederate invasion of Maryland in September 1862 . Gen . Robert E . Lee did not want to continue on to Maryland without capturing the town . It was on his supply line and could control one of his possible routes of retreat if the invasion did not go well . Dividing his army of approximately 40 , 000 into four sections , Lee used the cover of the mountains to send three columns under Stonewall Jackson to surround and capture the town . The Battle of Harpers Ferry started with light fighting September 13 as the Confederates tried to capture the Maryland Heights to the northeast , while John Walker moved back over the Potomac to capture Loudoun Heights south of town . After a Confederate artillery bombardment on September 14 and 15 , the Federal garrison surrendered . With 12 , 419 Federal troops captured , the surrender at Harpers Ferry was the largest surrender of US military personnel until the Battle of Bataan in World War II . Because of the delay in capturing Harpers Ferry and the movement of Federal forces to the west , Lee was forced to regroup at the town of Sharpsburg . Two days later he commanded troops in the Battle of Antietam , which had the highest number of deaths among troops of any single day in United States military history . By July 1864 , the Union again had control of Harpers Ferry . On 4 July 1864 , the Union commanding Gen . Franz Sigel withdrew his troops to Maryland Heights . From there he resisted Jubal Anderson Early ' s attempt to enter the town and drive the Federal garrison from Maryland Heights . 20th century . On August 15 , 1906 , the Niagara Movement led by author and scholar W . E . B . Du Bois , held its first meeting on American soil on the campus of Storer College , now part of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park . The three - day gathering , which was held to secure civil rights for African Americans , was later described by DuBois as " one of the greatest meetings that American Negroes ever held . " Attendees of the 1906 meeting walked from Storer College to the nearby farm of the Murphy family , then the site of the historic fort where John Brown ' s quest to free four million enslaved African Americans reached its bloody climax . At the beginning of the 20th century , Harpers Ferry was a fashionable resort for vacationers traveling by train from Washington , D . C . , and Baltimore . An elongated mass of land in the Potomac , known as Island Park , was a site for entertainment , a kind of Coney Island . It was owned by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad ( B & O Railroad ) , which on weekends and holidays ran as many as 28 excursion trains a day to bring picnickers , bowling clubs , singing societies and honeymooners up from the city . According to Mayor Gilbert Perry , ( mayor in 1957 ) , recalling the period : " Society people came from the city for the whole summer , or for a week or two during the racing season over at Charles Town . . . At Hilltop House ( hotel ) guests included bank presidents , businessmen , and real high society . Woodrow Wilson stayed there . . The hotel servants wore starched white jackets . And there was a croquet court , where a Gibson Girl might be seen playing against a gentleman with a wonderful mustache . . . It was quite the thing to elope by the old Chesapeake and Ohio canal boat , be married at the Ferry by the tolltaker , who was a retired parson , and honeymoon at Hilltop House . " But its popularity faded . The Great Depression and devastating floods washed away the resort trade . Highway bridges , rebuilt a mile below town on the Potomac and a mile above on the Shenandoah , routed traffic around the town and the population declined . In 1944 most of the town became a park , Harpers Ferry National Historical Park , administered by the National Park Service . The majority of the existing homes in Harpers Ferry ( including Charmadoah ) are historic , and some of these are registered in the National Register of Historic Places . In 1950 Harpers Ferry had a population of 822 . Rail transportation . Amtrak , the national passenger rail system , provides service to Harpers Ferry two times a day ( once in each direction ) . It is also served by the MARC commuter rail service , on its Brunswick Line . The city ' s passenger rail station is located at the West Virginia end of the historic railroad bridge across the Potomac River . In addition about 40 - 50 CSX freight trains daily pass through Harpers Ferry and over the bridge spanning the Potomac River . Geography . According to the United States Census Bureau , the town has a total area of , of which , is land and is water . Some properties are currently threatened by development . Thomas Jefferson wrote in " Notes on the State of Virginia " , published in 1785 , that From most of Harpers Ferry , a fading advertisement for borated toilet powder painted on the cliff face of Maryland Heights decades ago is still visible . Demographics . 2010 census . As of the census of 2010 , there were 286 people , 131 households , and 78 families residing in the town . The population density was . There were 175 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 93 . 7 % White , 4 . 2 % African American , 0 . 7 % Native American , 0 . 3 % from other races , and 1 . 0 % from two or more races . Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1 . 0 % of the population . There were 131 households of which 20 . 6 % had children under the age of 18 living with them , 43 . 5 % were married couples living together , 13 . 0 % had a female householder with no husband present , 3 . 1 % had a male householder with no wife present , and 40 . 5 % were non - families . 29 . 0 % of all households were made up of individuals and 15 . 3 % had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older . The average household size was 2 . 18 and the average family size was 2 . 69 . The median age in the town was 52 years . 17 . 1 % of residents were under the age of 18 ; 3 . 1 % were between the ages of 18 and 24 ; 18 . 8 % were from 25 to 44 ; 37 . 6 % were from 45 to 64 ; and 23 . 1 % were 65 years of age or older . The gender makeup of the town was 49 . 3 % male and 50 . 7 % female . 2000 census . As of the census of 2000 , there were 307 people , 153 households and 89 families residing in the town . The population density was 552 . 2 people per square mile ( 211 . 7 / km² ) . There were 189 housing units at an average density of 339 . 9 per square mile ( 130 . 3 / km² ) . The racial makeup of the town was 89 . 90 % White , 9 . 12 % African American , 0 . 33 % Native American , and 0 . 65 % from two or more races . Hispanic or Latino were 0 . 65 % of the population . There were 153 households out of which 17 . 6 % had children under the age of 18 living with them , 45 . 1 % were married couples living together , 11 . 8 % had a female householder with no husband present and 41 . 8 % were non - families . 36 . 6 % of all households and were made up of individuals and 9 . 8 % had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older . The average household size was 2 . 01 and the average family size was 2 . 56 . In the town the population was spread out with 17 . 3 % under the age of 18 , 2 . 0 % from 18 to 24 , 28 . 0 % from 25 to 44 , 30 . 9 % from 45 to 64 and 21 . 8 % who were 65 years of age or older . The median age was 47 years . For every 100 females there were 90 . 7 males . For every 100 females age 18 and over , there were 92 . 4 males . The median income for a household in the town was $ 52 , 344 , and the median income for a family was $ 70 , 313 . Males had a median income of $ 45 , 417 versus $ 22 , 708 for females . The per capita income for the town was $ 29 , 638 . About 3 . 2 % of families and 2 . 2 % of the population were below the poverty line , including 2 . 8 % of those under the age of 18 and none of those 65 or over . Politics . Federally , Harpers Ferry is part of West Virginia ' s 2nd congressional district and is represented by Shelley Moore Capito ( R ) in the United States House of Representatives . Capito was first elected in 2000 . Controversy over arsenal firehouse ( John Brown Fort ) bell . During a Union Army occupation of Harpers Ferry , a contingent of soldiers from Marlborough , Massachusetts , removed a bell hanging in the Harpers Ferry arsenal firehouse , which had served as John Brown ' s Fort . Several of those from Marlborough were in the local fire department , called the " ' Torrent ' Fire / Engine Company " , according to the city of Marlborough website . They took the bell back to Marlborough , where it has remained . Harpers Ferry has attempted to retrieve the bell without success . In July 2011 , Howard Swint of Charleston , West Virginia threatened to sue the city of Marlborough in an attempt to obtain the bell for Harpers Ferry . He has drafted , but not filed his lawsuit ( as of July 20 , 2011 ) . However , his action has generated controversy in the Marlborough area . Swint ' s research findings were published in a Massachusetts newspaper editorial column .