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.”
Hill Top House Hotel, a controversial luxury venue planned for Harpers Ferry, is pursuing new financing models through West Virginia’s tax increment financing program.
Overlooking the Potomac River, the future site of the Hill Top House Hotel has been blocked off with chain-link fences and sheets of fabric for years.
First proposed in 2007, the luxury hotel aimed to renovate and expand a historic nineteenth-century hotel that had fallen into disrepair.
The plan generated controversy among residents concerned about the scale of the project, which includes an underground parking garage, on-site restaurant and public green space.
For their part, representatives with SWaN & Legend Venture Partners — the Virginia-based investment group that owns the property — have maintained their intention to see the project through, even as local objections have ebbed and flowed.
But community pushback has not come without challenges, according to SWaN CEO Karen Schaufeld. The years of delays to the project have altered the project’s costs, which Schaufeld said rose significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The increase in construction and building costs due to numerous delays and, subsequently, the COVID-19 pandemic caused Hill Top’s total project cost to balloon to $150 million,” she wrote Thursday in an email to West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
To offset these new costs and help complete a project decades in the making, SWaN representatives are pursuing a new financing model: West Virginia’s tax increment financing (TIF) program.
Schaufeld wrote that admission to the program is a “financial necessity” for the hotel’s completion.
Some properties along Washington Street in Harpers Ferry have been purchased and prepared for development by SWaN & Legend Venture Partners.
Photo Credit: Jack Walker/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
The TIF program identifies areas in need of development and economic revitalization. By designating these areas as TIF districts, property developers can receive financial support for their projects on site.
When a site is declared a TIF district, its property value is frozen for a number of years, during which property owners can further develop within the district without facing increased property taxes.
On April 4, the Jefferson County Commission took the first steps toward securing the hotel its new status, voting narrowly to submit a TIF district application to the West Virginia Department of Economic Development.
This is merely a first step in the process, as the Jefferson County Commission will receive final approval over TIF districting plans.
Still, during an April 4 commission meeting, some members of the commission expressed concern over the speed of the application process, and encouraged additional time for public feedback.
Additionally, county commissioners expressed concern that the application was not complete at the time of their voting.
“I think we need to schedule another public hearing,” said County Commissioner Tricia Jackson, who voted against the application. “I think it would be irresponsible and reckless for this commission to advance this without having completed application information and [having] the public’s involvement.”
Last fall, the commission hosted a separate public hearing to receive community input over the plans. Additionally, the commission hosted a workshop on TIF districts in late March in preparation for the project.
Schaufeld said that the TIF district application “is a dynamic document, which contains values that change with time.”
This Harpers Ferry overlook has been slated for the development of Hill Top House Hotel, prompting detours for local access roads.
Photo Credit: Jack Walker/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
“Since the progression of this TIF application was delayed by many months due to the Jefferson County Commission itself, there are certain areas that are being updated,” she wrote.
Other members of the commission said delaying the application process could have adverse effects on the project on the whole.
County Commissioner Pasha Majdi, who voted in favor of the application, added that the commission would have time to review the results from the Department of Economic Development before making a final decision.
“I’m concerned that if we delay this application, we would risk losing funding for public benefits like an underground parking garage and green space,” he said. “The project, it’s going to continue regardless. But without a TIF these public benefits could be lost.”
Ultimately, the commission voted in favor of the application 3 to 2, advancing a project characterized by years-long standstills.
In her email, Schaufeld wrote that SWaN expects a “swift turnaround” on their application, and a response from the Department of Economic Development within 60 days of its submission.
Once a response has been received, the application will return to the Jefferson County Commission for final approval. If approved, the county will then have three to six months to finalize bonds for the project.
Schaufeld added that the project’s latest advancement has brought renewed excitement.
“We hope that after many years of costly delays we will be able to bring this project to life so that these economic benefits can finally come to Jefferson County,” she wrote.
WVPB looked at what did and didn’t get the governor’s signature and we continue our series looking back at the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic four years after its start.
We also take a look at the Republican primary race for a U.S. Senate seat, as well as updates from the state police on investigations into sexual misconduct.
On this West Virginia Week, the deadline for the governor to sign or veto bills from the state legislature’s regular session before they automatically become law was this week, and WVPB looked at what did and didn’t get the governor’s signature.
We continue our series looking back at the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on retail and outdoor recreation four years after its start.
We also take a look at the Republican primary race for a U.S. Senate seat, as well as updates from the state police on investigations into sexual misconduct.
Chris Schulz is our host this week. Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert.
West Virginia Week is a web-only podcast that explores the week’s biggest news in the Mountain State. It’s produced with help from Bill Lynch, Briana Heaney, Chris Schulz, Curtis Tate, Emily Rice, Eric Douglas, Jack Walker, Liz McCormick and Randy Yohe.
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 was home to the second-ever meeting of a civil rights group that gave way to the NAACP. A new documentary in part highlights the town’s connection to the movement.
The historical importance of Harpers Ferry becomes clear on any drive across the town’s cobblestone roads. Museums, Victorian homes and storefronts shelved with old-time goods line each of the town’s winding streets.
Many West Virginians know Harpers Ferry as a hub of Civil War history, serving as the site of an 1859 abolitionist uprising led by John Brown and Shields Green.
But fewer people know that the town also played a seminal role in the 20th century civil rights movement. Now, a new documentary, which can be viewed for free on PBS Passport, aims to raise awareness of an often overlooked piece of American history with direct ties to West Virginia.
Origins Of A Black-led Civil Rights Group
In 1905, a group of Black civil rights leaders came together to form the Niagara Movement. Historians describe the group as a precursor to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
The group was founded by Black Americans in Canada, just outside of Niagara Falls. It aimed to address racial injustice in the aftermath of the Civil War, advocating against things like sharecropping, racial segregation and pervasive anti-Black violence across the United States.
For its time, the Niagara Movement was viewed as radical. It was run exclusively by Black civil rights leaders like W.E.B. DuBois and William Monroe Trotter.
Curtis Freewill Baptist Church, one of the meeting places of members of the Niagara Movement, is located on Storer College Place in Harpers Ferry.
Credit: Jack Walker/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Plus, it offered a countercurrent to accommodationist perspectives on racial justice, which encouraged Black Americans to temporarily accept segregation, better their communities and one day push for increased civil rights.
This revolutionary mindset is what drew the group to Harpers Ferry in just its second year. Beyond its ties to abolitionist uprising, the West Virginia town was home to Storer College, a historic Black college open to discussions on racial liberation.
“They felt safe to come to a Black college,” said Scot Faulkner, who co-founded a local organization called the Friends of Harpers Ferry National Park. Faulkner’s group serves as a liaison between current town residents and the national historic park.
“They saw a link between themselves as a force, basically an aggressive force on behalf of African American rights,” he said. “They felt common ground and common philosophy with John Brown and the more radical abolitionists going back into the 1850s.”
While visiting parts of the town, Faulkner said the group’s leaders even took off their shoes because they felt that they were walking on “sacred ground.”
Faulkner said that Harpers Ferry provided a stepping stone for early civil rights leaders addressing racial injustice at the turn of the twentieth century. But not everyone who visits the town is aware of this history, which can be overshadowed by the town’s Civil War ties.
Located in downtown Harpers Ferry, the Storer College Museum contains several displays on the history of Black education, as well as the Niagara Movement’s meeting in West Virginia.
Credit: Jack Walker/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Shining A Light On The Niagara Movement
A new documentary titled “The Niagara Movement: the Early Battle for Civil Rights” released through Buffalo Toronto Public Media earlier this month tells the story of the Niagara Movement, from how it was founded to how it gave way to the NAACP.
Raymond Smock is a historian who serves as director emeritus of Shepherd University’s Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education. He also previously served as historian of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Smock contributed to the documentary, and hosted a screening of it on Shepherd’s campus earlier this month.
While the film doesn’t center on Harpers Ferry alone, Smock said it shows that the West Virginia town facilitated early civil rights discussions.
“This was an amazing meeting at a very historic spot where John Brown’s raid, some say, started the Civil War,” he said. “There was a great interest in holding this meeting.”
Still, Smock said that the Niagara Movement does not always get sufficient attention in contemporary historical discussions.
An exhibit on the Niagara Movement, an early civil rights organization, is located inside the Storer College Museum in Harpers Ferry.
Credit: Jack Walker/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
“In the immediate vicinity, if you’re in Jefferson County, West Virginia, the Harpers Ferry meeting of the Niagara Movement is pretty well-known history,” Smock said. “But it’s not well known in most other parts of the state or the nation.”
Both Faulkner and Smock said that they hope the documentary helps people learn more about the Niagara Movement and civil rights history.
Much of this history can be discovered right in West Virginia, at historic Harpers Ferry sites like the Storer College campus and the Storer College Museum. The multi-level museum has exhibits dedicated to Black history, from the Niagara Movement and beyond.
For Faulkner, the ability to discover these pieces of American history on a simple walk through town is what makes Harpers Ferry great.
Harpers Ferry “was the philosophical and emotional link between the Niagara Movement in the 20th century and the abolitionist movement, especially the more forceful aspects of the abolitionist movement, of the 19th century,” he said.
“It was a really important melding of these two threads in American history, and certainly of the African American rights movement,” Faulkner said.
