Two deer tested positive for chronic wasting disease in Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, marking the disease’s first documented occurrence in the park.
Two white-tailed deer have tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD) in Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, marking the first time the disease was detected in a West Virginia national park.
CWD affects several deer, elk and moose species across North America, and is fatal to infected animals, with no known cure or treatment.
There have been no reported instances of CWD infecting humans, but the World Health Organization advises against the consumption of CWD-infected animals.
All venison from the deer infected with CWD was destroyed, according to a Tuesday press release from the National Park Service (NPS).
NPS said it detected the instances of CWD during ongoing efforts to reduce deer populations “to protect and restore native plants, promote healthy and diverse forests and preserve historic landscapes.”
Similar deer population reduction efforts are being conducted in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., according to NPS.
In March, three white-tailed deer tested positive for CWD in Maryland’s Antietam National Battlefield and Monocacy National Battlefield, located less than 20 and 25 miles away, respectively.
This also marked the disease’s first documented occurrence in either battlefield, according to NPS.
CWD can cause “drastic weight loss, stumbling, listlessness and other neurological symptoms, though it can take more than a year for these symptoms to present, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The NPS will continue to participate in monitoring of collected deer for CWD and will destroy venison testing positive for CWD,” NPS said. “If you see sick or dead wildlife, avoid contact with the animal and notify a National Park Service employee as soon as possible.”
Harpers Ferry is a historic West Virginia city and international tourist hub. But four years ago the national park and surrounding town were devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tourists from around the world visit Harpers Ferry each year to immerse themselves in U.S. history. But four years ago, things were a lot quieter downtown with the COVID-19 pandemic spreading nationwide.
“During the initial part of the pandemic, they said that being outside was actually a bad thing,” said Scot Faulkner, president of the Friends of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. His group serves as a liaison between local residents and the national park.
“They literally blocked access to the trails. They blocked access to these open fields. They even hauled logs to block the parking areas,” he said.
“We experienced a decrease in visitation as travel restrictions and concerns about virus transmission led to reduced recreation activities and some closures,” Kristen Maxfield, an interpretation and education program manager at the park, wrote in an email to West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
Others involved in local tourism, too, said that making decisions during the pandemic was a balancing act.
One attraction that closed with the onset of the pandemic was the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) headquarters, located in Harpers Ferry.
Located in Harpers Ferry, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy serves as a headquarters for the Appalachian Trail, not too far from its midpoint. Photo Credit: Jack Walker/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
The ATC asked thru-hikers to suspend their journeys in 2020. And, from March 2020 to May 2021, the conservancy closed its office in town, according to Dakota Jackson, ATC associate director of visitor services.
According to Jackson, officials worried that a large group of thru-hikers traveling north from Georgia could spread COVID-19 to communities along the trail.
But, ultimately, she said a lot of decision-making happened on the local level, because land managers help oversee portions of the trail.
“It wasn’t ATC closing the trail,” she said. “It really was like an overall decision in response to the pandemic and land managers over the course of 2020.”
In 2022, once most health restrictions were lifted, Jackson said thru-hiker turnout spiked.
But visits to the Harpers Ferry headquarters remain below pre-pandemic levels. Where the center used to bring in 30,000 visitors per year, it barely passed 19,000 in 2023.
Some saw the pandemic shutdown as a way to keep people safe. Others, like hotel owner Karan Townsend, recall its devastating effect on local business.
Townsend said she’s seen pretty consistent tourist turnout since she founded the hotel in 2007. But the pandemic was devastating, because she had to all but close her hotel in March 2020.
Karan Townsend owns and operates the Town’s Inn, a hotel and cafe located in downtown Harpers Ferry. Photo Credit: Jack Walker/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Things changed a few months later, because West Virginia rescinded some of its public health guidelines earlier than nearby states. Townsend said people began returning to her hotel shortly after this.
“Because we were allowed to open, people that were from nearby areas that were still closed down – actually, not just nearby, from all over the world – came here,” she said.
The upheaval Townsend’s business faced was not alone in Harpers Ferry. Faulkner said many tourist-centric businesses had to close up because of decreased visitors and revenue.
But, like Townsend, Faulkner said things improved gradually as the state reopened.
“As West Virginia began to reopen, being able to see the logs pulled away from the trail paths and being able to have the stores, especially the restaurants, reopen in the town … it began to have an uptick in terms of actual economic activity,” he said.
Today, visitors to the national park have bounced back to pre-pandemic levels. They have even surpassed previous heights.
Every year since 2020, the number of visitors to the park has grown. In 2023, more than 400,000 people visited the park.
That marks a growth of more than 100,000 visitors when compared to 2019.
According to Maxfield, the park is now back to its former self, with activities and tour opportunities restored.
“We are delighted to welcome visitors to experience Harpers Ferry National Historical Park for themselves,” she wrote. “There truly is something for people of all ages and interests here.”
Faulkner said that he and residents are also glad to see things back to normal. “We love this park, and [we’re] glad that more and more people are coming.”
On this West Virginia Morning, tourists from around the world visit Harpers Ferry each year to immerse themselves in U.S. history. But the number of visitors fell in 2020, as public health restrictions ramped up nationwide. Jack Walker visited the town to learn how things have changed since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
On this West Virginia Morning, tourists from around the world visit Harpers Ferry each year to immerse themselves in U.S. history. But the number of visitors fell in 2020, as public health restrictions ramped up nationwide. Jack Walker visited the town to learn how things have changed since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Also, in this show, some of the divides in our nation are defined by where we get our information. As social media sites gain a larger audience, some traditional news organizations find themselves losing out and going out of business.
In a new episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay finds the media landscape has changed, and fewer newspapers and radio and television stations are doing daily reporting. A study from Northwestern University shows 200 counties in the U.S. now have no source of local news.
Kay talks with Steve Waldman, a longtime journalist who is now trying to save local journalism. Co-founder of Report for America, Waldman says the industry has imploded after watching its business model turned inside out. We listen to an excerpt from the latest Us & Them episode, “Another Small Town Paper Down.”
And to hear the rest of the episode, tune in Thursday, March 28 at 8 p.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting or on Sunday, March 30 at 3 p.m. for an encore. You can also listen on your own time, right here.
West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.
Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University.
Chris Schulz produced this episode.
Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning
Harpers Ferry is giving tourists a taste of life during the Civil War as the holiday season begins.
Harpers Ferry is giving tourists a taste of life during the Civil War as the holiday season begins.
Harpers Ferry was a key location during the Civil War’s Shenandoah Valley campaign, and changed hands eight times until it was secured by Union forces in 1864. The yearly event will show Harpers Ferry under martial law as it existed during the Christmas season.
“Right up towards the tail end of the Civil War, Harpers Ferry was being used as a supply center and a garrison town for the Union Army as it pushed its way through the Shenandoah Valley,” Harpers Ferry National Historical Park representative Leah Taber said. “It was pretty consistently a battleground between Union and Confederate forces, just due to its geography.”
The exhibits include reenactments of a Victorian ball hosted by members of the 34th Massachusetts Infantry and their wives, and the crime and punishment of a Union army deserter.
Taber said these events aim to put people in the mindset of those who lived during the period.
“Our visitors, if they come to this event, can really get a sense of what it was like during that holiday season where there were starting to be glimmers of hope that the war might come to an end,” Taber said. “But that holiday season was tempered also by the realities of war.”
The event is set for Dec. 3 and 4 throughout the park from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Lower Town area will be restricted to one-way only traffic and the park recommends using the bus service from the visitor’s center instead.
Biologists from Radford University found the rodents in the Virginia section of the park, which also spans West Virginia and Maryland.
The Harpers Ferry National Historical Park has rediscovered Allegheny woodrats on park grounds – the first such sighting of the rodents in the area in two decades.
Biologists from Radford University found the rodents in the Virginia section of the park, which also spans West Virginia and Maryland. Both adults and infants of the species were discovered in the area by researchers, who say it’s the northernmost they’ve spotted the woodrats in the state.
The vulnerable species makes its home in rocky outcrops, and its loss of habitat is one of the factors that has seen the species’ population quickly decrease over the past few decades.
“You’re not going to find a whole lot of woodrats in one particular area. And they have a home range of a couple of acres; five to six acres, five to 12 acres,” said Scott Bates, wildlife biologist for the National Park Service’s Capital Region. “And so sometimes, the population at one outcrop will disappear. And then eventually it will be re-colonized by woodrats from a neighboring outcrop.”
Bates also says that the resurgence of the rare species in the area can be a boon for tourists.
“I think it’s cool to know that we have a unique and rare species that is able to persist at the park,” Bates said. “From a local perspective, anything that creates more interest in the park can have a positive economic impact for the region, as well as the positive environmental impact.”
Park representative Leah Taber says it’s an example of how protected lands can provide safe habitats for different types of threatened animals.
“It’s important to have these places for biodiversity, that we’re able as a national park to protect species of all shapes and sizes,” Taber said.
The discovery of Allegheny woodrats marks the second such reappearance of threatened animals at Harpers Ferry in recent memory – peregrine falcons had returned to nest at the park starting last year.
A devastating flood struck Harpers Ferry on October 16, 1942. Ironically, it occurred on the 83rd anniversary of John Brown’s raid—the event that forever put Harpers Ferry in the history books.
The town’s early history was tied to water. In the 1740s, settler Robert Harper established a ferry there, at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, giving the town its name. Then, based on a recommendation from George Washington, one of the nation’s two government armories and arsenals was built at Harpers Ferry.
The armory and much of the town was wiped out during the Civil War. The town continually struggled to recover. However, periodic flooding dealt townspeople one setback after another. Particularly devastating floods occurred in 1870, 1896, 1924, and 1936. After the ’42 flood destroyed some of the last homes and businesses in the Lower Town, all hope seemed lost. But, West Virginia Congressman Jennings Randolph stepped in with a plan to turn portions of the town over to the National Park Service. Randolph’s actions helped save Harpers Ferry, and today, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park attracts a quarter-of-a-million visitors annually.
