The small town of Harpers Ferry in the Eastern Panhandle is often referred to as a gateway into West Virginia. It was a prominent place during the American Civil War, and it was the site of John Brown’s Raid.
Today, it’s home to the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park as well as nearly 300 residents. The park along with the commercial area of the town sees thousands of visitors each year from around the country and all over the world.
In June 2017, Harpers Ferry elected a new mayor – Harpers Ferry resident Wayne Bishop. Reporter Liz McCormick sat down with Bishop to hear how he plans to lead the iconic West Virginia town.
The Harpers Ferry National Historical Park played host to a naturalization ceremony Tuesday morning for 19 new U.S. citizens.
About 50 people attended the ceremony celebrating the new U.S.—and West Virginia—citizens.
Jose Luis Gil Zambrano – an adjunct math professor at Shepherd University – was one of those nineteen. He and his wife moved to the United States from Venezuela about seven years ago to be near their son who lives in Virginia, but they chose to live in Martinsburg because he says it felt more like home.
“I like this place, you know, when I talk about this state, I feel very happy, because, I don’t know, I mean, I feel the people here are very warm,” Zambrano said.
The other 18 new citizens originate from 9 other countries, including Bangladesh, India, Liberia, and Mexico.
Harpers Ferry National Historical Park has hosted naturalization ceremonies since 2013. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services says they welcome over 750,000 new citizens to the U.S. each year.
By now, you may have heard of a new app for smartphones called Pokémon GO. It was released in the United States on July 6 and has taken the country by storm – including West Virginia. There’s a feature in the game that encourages you to visit historic, unique, or touristy spots in the real world, and West Virginia Public Broadcasting has been exploring the interest in this widely popular game.
But first – for full disclosure, I have been a big fan of the Pokémon franchise since it came to the U.S. in the late 90s. Pokémon was created in Japan in 1996, and through video games and trading cards, players collected Pokémon or Pocket Monsters unique to the game and even battled them.
Jump ahead 20 years and Pokémon can now be played on your smartphone.
I ran around Shepherdstown last week with a few friends who also play Pokémon GO. All of us are millennials who spent our childhoods either battling or trading Pokémon after school in the cafeteria or on Saturday mornings at the local book store.
Games Editor for Mashable, Chelsea Stark says what made the game so popular for the generation was the built-in sense of adventure and self-importance. And millennials are reliving that experience today at the touch of a finger.
“It was all these people who grew up loving Pokémon and becoming, like, huge Pokémon fans, and are now kind of adults and like, are able to have this awesome experience of kind of playing with Pokémon in the real world,” Stark said.
To fully play the game, you have to get out and explore the world around you. Pokémon GO uses something called augmented reality to bring those Pokémon to your front yard, your living room, or to your nearby park. The game’s main screen looks like a GPS map with your avatar standing in your current location.
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A Pokémon called Nidorina appears on my phone in front of Knutti Hall on Shepherd University’s campus.
As you walk around, wild Pokémon appear on your screen. Tap them with your finger, your camera turns on, and suddenly you see that Pokémon standing right in front of you.
“The fact that it kind of takes on this real world feeling, and gives you a feeling like there’s a layer of magic around us, it’s, I think, may have helped it spread like wildfire,” Stark explained.
That “layer of magic” comes in many forms, from the Pokémon themselves to little, blue, floating boxes that appear as you explore. These blue boxes are known as PokéStops, and they’re often placed at historic locations or landmarks.
There are dozens of PokéStops in historic Shepherdstown, from the Sweet Shop to the Rumsey Monument, celebrating James Rumsey – thought by locals to be the real father of the steamboat, the first of which was showcased in Shepherdstown.
So, is the game having an impact on local tourism? My friend Austin Susman, who is a student at Shepherd, and like me grew up in Charleston, thinks it’s entirely possible.
“The weekend it first came out, I was actually home in Charleston,” Susman said, “and I found some statues downtown that I’d never seen before; stuff in front of buildings I’d driven by every day that I never stopped to look at the statues before.”
Already, institutions like Shepherd University are looking at ways to incorporate this new phenomenon into their services, like a scavenger hunt for incoming freshmen to learn about Shepherdstown.
John Lustrea has been a seasonal park ranger there for the last four years. He’s also a Pokémon GO player. Lustrea says he’s noticed more people in the park playing the game, and he says rangers at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. are actually talking about starting hikes incorporating Pokémon GO.
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PokéStops in Harpers Ferry, WV.
“The idea is they will lead a group of people playing the game and help them catch Pokémon, and then they’ll probably talk about the variety of the monuments and historic things on the Mall,” Lustrea said.
There are concerns that come with the game, though, from distracted driving, to players getting mugged, to one player finding a dead body, and then there are also concerns in-game over data tracking and privacy.
Many of my friends say the privacy issue doesn’t really deter them from playing, including, Dylan Meushaw.
“I mean, I’m already on social media and all that crap, so my stuff’s out there already probably,” Meushaw said.
Chelsea Stark with Mashable says just a few days after the game’s release, programmers did improve some privacy aspects for users signing in with a Google account. As for the data tracking –
“I mean if you’re concerned about that, then you shouldn’t own a smartphone, because your smartphone – Apple is tracking you, Google is tracking you already if you own an Android phone, and your cell carrier is definitely tracking you,” Stark noted.
Pokémon GO has only been out for about two weeks, and it’s already left a mark on our culture. In just the first few days, it became the most downloaded cell phone app. EVER. During a summer full of political and social strife, many say the game has provided a nice getaway even if it’s only for a few moments.
So, to all my fellow GO players, get out there, explore your communities and catch Pokémon.
This year marks the Centennial Celebration of the National Park Service – 100 years since the system was created. But 2016 is also special for another reason – it marks the release of a new quarter honoring one of West Virginia’s best known National Parks.
Hundreds of people gathered in Harpers Ferry for the official launch of the America the Beautiful Quarters Program honoring Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.
This new quarter recognizes one of the most historic towns in West Virginia – known for its significant role during the Civil War. The quarter’s reverse side depicts John Brown’s Fort, the site of John Brown’s last stand during his raid on the Harpers Ferry Armory.
“This quarter brings a lot of pride to a state, to an area; the pride that’s in here,” said Bill Norton, Director of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs at the United States Mint, “If you look around, there are people here from Illinois, California, Montana, Florida, and they come up, and it’s important. It’s important to keep us and keep Americans connected with this history.”
West Virginia’s quarter is one of five that will be released this year as part of the America the Beautiful Quarters Program that began in 2010.
A total of 56 new quarters will be released through 2020 honoring 56 national sites in each of the 50 states, Washington D.C., and five U.S. territories – Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Harpers Ferry’s quarter is 33rd in the series.
Thomas Hipschen is the artist behind the design of this new quarter. Hipschen is a member of the Artistic Infusion Program at the United States Mint and has been a regular visitor to Harpers Ferry for the past 40 years.
This is the first time one of his designs will appear on a circulating coin, and Hipschen says he chose John Brown’s Fort because it’s so iconic.
“It’s the only part of the original arsenal that still exists,” Hipschen explained, “It’s a major point in history; it was almost a trigger point for the Civil War. Later on, it became a meeting place for black groups that turned into the NAACP organization. It just has so many different points in history that makes it important.”
Harpers Ferry National Historical Park is one of four other national park sites in West Virginia and one of 411 sites in the country.
Those interested in getting the new Harpers Ferry quarter may visit any Jefferson Security Bank to exchange cash for rolls of coins until stock runs out. According to a representative from the United States Mint, other banks around the country may have the coins in stock, and individuals are encouraged to reach out and check with their local banks for availability.
But those interviews have been a bit infrequent, and since West Virginia Day is coming up (not to mention A Change of Tune’s second birthday), we thought we’d do something special: 30 days, 30 brand new #WVmusic interviews that range from Morgantown alt-rockers and Parkersburg singer-songwriters to West Virginia music venues and regional artist management and beyond, all of which contribute to this state’s wild and wonderful music scene.
And today, we are chatting with West Virginia-by-way-of-Florida folk troubadour Tim Lancaster. If his name sounds familiar, that’s because he was just announced as Harpers Ferry National Park’s Artist-In-Residence for Summer 2016 (which is kind of a big deal). We spoke with Lancaster about that prestigious gig, as well as his experiences making music in both big cities (i.e. Orlando) and up-and-coming towns (i.e. Huntington).
Tim Lancaster’s newest release is My Times with You. Keep up with the young singer-songwriter on his website and through social media. Hear more #WVmusic on A Change of Tune, airing Saturday nights at 10 on West Virginia Public Broadcasting. And for more #WVmusic chats, make sure to go to wvpublic.org/wvmusic.
Interview Highlights
On his musical origins:
My father plays a little bit when he’s off from work. He was always around playing “Dust in the Wind,” and I thought it was the prettiest song I ever heard. I figured if I could learn how to play it, I’d be happy, and of course I finally learned to play it, and then I wanted to learn more.
But then I got into high school and started wrestling, and with wrestling you don’t have time to do anything else, at least how I approached it. So I put all of myself into wrestling and took a break from the guitar. By senior year, I had enough of starving myself and decided to pick up the guitar again.
Credit Melissa Stilwell Photography
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Tim Lancaster doing what he does best: playing music and telling stories.
On becoming a folk musician:
I wouldn’t say I’m a professional or anything, but I really got into that style of playing a guitar in 2008. I went to Wilkesboro, North Carolina with a buddy to go to Merlefest, which is a festival put on by Doc Watson in honor of his son Merle who passed away in a tractor accident. I went just because my friend was going, and I was into that music, but the first time I heard Doc Watson play he was twenty feet away from me. It struck me like a bolt of lightning, not to be cliché, but it was really something. Just how honest and pure it was. When I started listening and trying to do my own thing with it, that’s when I feel I finally found what I was supposed to do with my instrument.
Up until that point, I was all over the place. In high school, you want to be in a band that sounds exactly like Radiohead or Led Zeppelin, but it wasn’t until I found this style of music that I was able to be happy with the way that I sounded, and I wasn’t trying to sound like anybody else. Granted I was taking from a lot of inspirations, but I was able to morph in into my own voice.
On finding West Virginia:
I first moved from Florida when I was 19 or 20, and I had a friend who had a friend in Huntington who had some recording gear. I wanted to record some songs that I had, which ended up being my first album which I called A Finer Line. I started recording in this room called The Record Room with Shayne Barker, who is good friends with Max Nolte. During that same weekend I was here, Max also recorded me, and those are the recording we ended up using for that collection. The rest is history.
After that, I’ve always felt that Huntington was my second home because whether I was living in New York City or northeastern Vermont, I was always coming back to check in on my Huntington bubbies. It’s always on my mind. Here I am. I was just in California last summer, and now I’m back here. It’s been a weird home base, and some people think I’m crazy for it, but there is something special here. Every place is different; it’s just what kind of different you like.
Credit Melissa Stilwell Photography
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Tim Lancaster and one of his best “bubbies:” his guitar.
On deciding to permanently move to West Virginia:
I’d been living in Vermont for three years, and I loved it there. I loved it there so much, and it was really hard to leave. But we’re too young to be set in my ways, and I hadn’t lived here permanently. So I decided to check it out, got a place here, lived here, really liked it, and made a lot of new friends. Those are the same friends that brought me back here. I lived here for ten months, got the itch, went out west through the fall and early winter.
But when I was out there, every time something crazy would happen, I kept finding myself calling my bubbies in Huntington, wanting to tell them what wild thing happened or to check up on how they were doing. Then one day I thought, “What the hell. There are a lot of good things going on in Huntington. Let’s give it another shot.” And I’ve been very happy since I made the decision. The people here are great. What I like about it is there’s a great balance between having a good time, and the amount of productivity that happens here, which is an important thing. It’s important to have a good time and get down with your friends, but then also to get something done that’s meaningful is even more important than that. Both of those things are happening here, which I enjoy.
On recording his first record in West Virginia:
I recorded it a couple days before I moved from West Virginia last year with Max. Max Nolte will probably be the one to record everything I will ever do, at least if I have anything to say about it [laughing]. He’s my bubbie. He’s a comfortable person to be around. He’s improving, and I’m improving. With each time we do something, it’s interesting watching each other grow, and it’s nice to not have any real pressure. With My Times with You, I knew I was moving, and I wanted to record something because I had been living here for 10 months and I hadn’t recorded anything, so I was just able to get up in The Loft with Max and record a few songs. In a couple hours, they were all done with a first take. They were all done in the first take, and here we are putting it out.
A couple things have changed [since My Times with You’s Bandcamp release in July of 2015]. It has a new cover, which is a photograph of me in a birch tree in Maine, a silhouette image, which was taken by my friend Shane Tulp when I was living in the Northeast. Picture was taken in the last couple of weeks of me living in Vermont. I think the image really captured what the album was about: half of the songs were written in my last year living in Vermont, and the other half are a reflection of that time in my life.
On rereleasing My Times with You on physical format:
Credit Courtesy of Tim Lancaster
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Tim Lancaster’s latest release will have a new and improved look later this month when it becomes available in physical formats.
I guess I’m tired of having the same albums on the merch table [laughing]. But when you release something on a physical format, it gives a certain level of legitimacy to that collection of songs. And these are songs that I think are great songs, I don’t want them to be written off as something I can just throw on the internet. I want them to be something that somebody can be hold in their hands and hopefully in their hearts.
Bandcamp makes it really quick and easy for people to access your music. I just found that it’s harder for me to sell my songs because not a lot of people know who I am. But maybe if they see me perform and like what they hear, they’ll be more attuned to buy the album from me right there as opposed to, “Oh, well I have this thing on Bandcamp that you can log onto later when you are hungover if you remember talking to me at all.” [Laughing] So it’s much easier to get the album to them at that moment than have them think about it later. But maybe I should be performing better to make it stay in their [potentially hungover] minds.
On the story behind My Times with You:
I’m trying to think of how I can phrase it without embarrassing myself [laughing]. It was kind of about my first experience with love, which I found in Vermont. And then we decided to do different things with our lives, and I moved to West Virginia. So the other half of the record is me reflecting on that time that I spent up there. And I’m fortunate to be able to incorporate her. The liner notes of the record are a poem of hers, which I think is very, very cool to have that on there.
You always have to be positive with everything. Things change; that’s just how it is. You have to be fine from it and take from it in a positive way. You can’t let it get you down, because you can learn something from any situation. And that’s just going to make you grow. You’re always going to be constantly changing.
You know, I’m not sure [if the ex-girlfriend gives the record five stars]. [Laughing] I remember after she listened to it, she said that I played the songs a little differently than I would when we were in the cabin. But I think she’s cool with [the record].
<a data-cke-saved-href=”http://timlancaster.bandcamp.com/album/my-times-with-you” href=”http://timlancaster.bandcamp.com/album/my-times-with-you”>My Times with You by Tim Lancaster</a>
On the highlight of his musical journey:
Playing music has given me this cool vagabond troubadour persona, which has given me the confidence to go places. That’s probably my favorite part of it. It’s almost an excuse for being young and making music decisions to be able to be like, “Hey, let’s catch a ride to New York City and live there. Hey, let’s go work for rent in Vermont for three years. Hey, let’s go to California.” [Laughing] It’s nice to have that in my back pocket to use like, “Oh yeah, sure, I’m doing this because I’m trying to be a responsible musician.”
Credit Melissa Stilwell Photography
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What’s next for Tim Lancaster? Wait and find out…
On that one time Tim Lancaster wasn’t Tim Lancaster:
When I was playing music in Florida, I went by Tim Holden. You’re in your teens, and you want to be anyone but yourself. No name can be possibly good enough for you [laughing], so I called myself Tim Holden because the name of the band I had at the time was called The Holden Boys. I would get mail which would be addressed to Tim Holden, so my mom would be like, “Who is this? What are you doing?” Looking back, it was pretty silly of me. I mean the most important thing I can be is myself. And Lancaster doesn’t sound that band when I think about it. I think it works.
Harpers Ferry National Historical Park will be the next coin released in the America the Beautiful Quarters Program.
The Journal in Martinsburg reports an official unveiling and celebration will be held at 10 a.m. June 8 on Hamilton Street in Lower Town Harpers Ferry. Visitors will be able to buy up to $100 worth of Harpers Ferry quarters at the event.
The quarter will feature John Brown’s Fort. Sets of 2016 proof quarter, including the Harpers Ferry coin, were made available for sale by the U.S. Mint earlier this year.
The America the Beautiful Quarters Program began in 2010. The series of 56 quarters features national parks and other national sites from each state and territory of the United States.
