The raid took place more than 160 years ago and is thought of as one of the events that precipitated the Civil War.
This weekend marks the anniversary of John Brown’s raid at the U.S. armory in Harpers Ferry.
Library of Congress
On Oct. 16, 1859, Brown set out to raid the armory for weapons, which would be used to arm those opposed to the institution of slavery. The raid failed when Brown and his men were captured the morning of Oct. 18. A group of U.S. Marines laid siege to the fire engine house, now known as John Brown’s Fort, the raiders had been driven into.
The raid took place more than 160 years ago and is thought of as one of the events that precipitated the Civil War.
Harpers Ferry National Historical Park representative Leah Taber says many of the questions the raid raised are still relevant today.
“His impact didn’t just end with the suppression of the raid or the Civil War,” Taber said. “We still are talking about what John Brown means as far as racial justice, or if violence is ever okay as a means to an end.”
The park is putting on a “living history” presentation with the Marine Corps Historical Company, titled “At All Times Ready.” The presentation will show how the raid unfolded on the site’s actual grounds through a first-person perspective of the figures involved.
“It will allow our visitors to experience John Brown’s raid through the stories of those Marines, through townspeople both white and Black and through the eyes of John Brown himself, even, so that they can gain a greater understanding of how Harpers Ferry became one of the key places in civil rights history, ultimately,” Taber said.
The event is scheduled for Oct. 15 and 16 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., beginning on The Green at Harpers Ferry’s historic Lower Town and ending at John Brown’s Fort, which was moved 150 feet from its original location in 1968 after being acquired by the National Park Service eight years prior. Marine Corps Historical Company staffers will also be at the fort from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. to provide education to visitors.
The city of Martinsburg is celebrating its 250th anniversary. That milestone comes with city-wide events planned throughout the year.
The city of Martinsburg is celebrating its 250th anniversary. That milestone comes with city-wide events planned throughout the year.
City officials and historians celebrated with a tree planting ceremony last month, kicking off a project that will plant 250 trees at sites of interest across Berkeley County.
The project kicked off at Martinsburg’s Adam Stephen House, a historical site and home of one of Martinsburg’s founders. Keith Hammersla, curator for the General Adam Stephen Memorial Association, notes Stephen’s arrival in the area as the beginning of the town’s development.
“He had two tracts of land. He purchased one tract in 1770, where he built this house. A second tract he purchased in 1773. And on that tract, he laid out lots to start the town of Martinsburg,” Hammersla said.
Today, Martinsburg is the largest city in the Eastern Panhandle and the center of the fastest growing area in West Virginia.
Berkeley County’s population grew by nearly 17 percent in the past decade, while West Virginia’s population shrank by almost 4 percent.
Michael Benson, a member of the association’s executive committee, thinks this is because of how different Berkeley County’s economy is compared to the rest of the state.
“I think it’s the diversity of the economy and in the area versus the other parts of the state being more reliant on two or three industries. You don’t have that concentration in Berkeley County or in the panhandle,” Benson said.
Berkeley County historian Todd Funkhouser says the town has historically benefited because of its location. Martinsburg became known as a railroad town after the construction of its roundhouse during the 19th century, becoming a major checkpoint for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company.
“All of the associated buildings popped up from the railroad itself. They had multiple theaters, multiple newspapers, downtown businesses were thriving. And there was a credit union, the beginning of the banking system,” Funkhouser said.
Today, Martinsburg is notable for its connection to Interstate 81 and accessibility to major business markets like Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and northern Virginia. Sandy Hamilton, executive director of the Berkeley County Development Authority, says this proximity is a big appeal of the region.
“It just makes perfect sense, from a logistics standpoint, that businesses would want to be in Berkeley County, where the cost of living is still less, the price of land is still less, the price to do business here is less,” Hamilton said.
Martinsburg’s rapid growth isn’t without its problems. Funkhouser worries that as the area continues to grow, infrastructure won’t be able to keep up.
“The local road system is at a breaking point because of the accessibility and ease of the interstate,” Funkhouser said. “A majority of our water is groundwater sourced, which creates all kinds of problems, and our sewer system is going to be a concern in the future.”
Historical preservation is also an issue, according to Marty Keesecker, president of the Adam Stephen Memorial Association. He says development has meant historic buildings were demolished for new businesses, but notes a recent resurgence of interest in preservation and beautification.
“You’ve seen a lot of work along the Tuscarora Creek to clean it up. There’s some little parks nearby,” Keesecker said. “So I think I see some positive – really positive – moves. And maybe that’s geared to the 250th anniversary. Who cares – it’s being done.”
Concerns aside, the region’s growth shows no signs of slowing down. From 2020 to 2021 alone, Berkeley County posted a population growth of nearly 4,000.
Happy Retreat is a historic mansion in Charles Town that was once the home of Charles Washington – founder of Charles Town and brother to the nation’s first president. Today, the house is becoming a hub for public events, community outreach, history and tourism.
On a hot Saturday afternoon in June, hundreds of locals and out of town tourists stop by a historic mansion in Charles Town, West Virginia known as Happy Retreat.
They’re here for a day of wine and jazz out on the back lawn.
Credit Liz McCormick / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
A volunteer serves wine to a man attending the Happy Retreat Wine and Jazz Festival on June 9, 2018.
Inside the Happy Retreat mansion, visitors explore the first floor taking in the historic rooms.
This house was built in the 1780s by George Washington’s youngest brother, Charles Washington – the founder of Charles Town. It was his home until he died. For more than 200 years, Happy Retreat was a private residence, but then in 2006, the owners at the time were elderly, and the future of the house was unclear.
That same year, a group of locals formed a nonprofit group called “Friends of Happy Retreat” to restore and protect the mansion — and boost tourism for the area, too. Nine years later, the group purchased the home and began holding events on the property.
Credit Liz McCormick / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
A portrait of Charles Washington, founder of Charles Town, W.Va., hangs on the wall of one of the first floor rooms in the Happy Retreat mansion.
“Friends of Happy Retreat” do charge tickets to attend their events and festivals, but everyone involved in putting those events together are volunteers, and all the proceeds go to further restoring the house.
Stephanie Somers was born and raised in Charles Town. She says she’s glad to see the direction the mansion is taking and was excited to come out for the wine and jazz festival.
“By opening places like this up to the public, you’re inviting them in, and you’re; maybe by them coming in, they develop this sense of personal ownership of it; this is a part of my community,” Somers said, “and by developing that sense of ownership, they’re gonna care a lot more about it, and it’s going to be so much easier to preserve and maintain these places forever.”
Another festival-attendee, Evan Clark, is a resident from Winchester, Virginia. He crossed state lines just to attend the event. He says bringing people out to the mansion in this way will help keep the history alive.
“I’m embarrassed to say; I used to be a history teacher, and I didn’t know that George Washington’s brother lived here,” Clark said, “so this type of pairing; you know, wine and jazz festival, brings people to the venue and allows us to learn the history, and then understand also that it costs a lot of money, so maybe they’ll come for a tour, maybe they’ll become a donor or benefactor, and we can preserve that history by exposing more people to it. So, I think this is just a wonderful pairing.”
It’s for exactly those reasons, Charles Town resident Walter Washington wanted to turn Happy Retreat into what it is today – a historic landmark that draws visitors through community events.
“It was important to have a place in town that could really be; that would draw; a place for heritage tourism,” Washington said.
Credit Liz McCormick / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Walter Washington, descendant of George Washington’s brother, Samuel Washington. Walter is the President of the nonprofit, “Friends of Happy Retreat.”
Fun fact about Walter — he’s actually a direct descendant of George Washington’s other brother, Samuel. Walter’s responsible for starting that nonprofit we mentioned, “Friends of Happy Retreat,” to ensure the mansion’s survival.
“You know, we have the courthouse of course where John Brown was tried, and that’s a hugely important historical structure,” Washington noted, “but this goes back to, you know, the 1780s, and there was no place in Charles Town that really told that story; the story of the early part of town.”
Rather than turn the house into a museum, Walter wanted to bring the place to life by incorporating its history into fun events like wine and jazz, book talks, craft beer festivals, and chamber music concerts.
Walter says by making this historic spot a vibrant and exciting place to visit, he hopes it will enrich the community and help increase tourism for the entire state.
“Jefferson County is really the eastern gateway to West Virginia,” he said, “I mean, we have all of the, I don’t know how many million people live in the Washington-Baltimore metropolitan areas, with all the suburbs of the surrounding counties, and so this is really the gateway to West Virginia for those people. I mean, they come to Harpers Ferry, but that’s; Harpers Ferry is the very eastern tip of the whole state, and so if we can draw them in this way, a little further, we can tell more stories that way.”
Credit Liz McCormick / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
A potted flower sits in a window of the Happy Retreat mansion. Outside is the back lawn of the house. A temporary stage has been built for the Wine and Jazz Festival on June 9, 2018.
There’s something special about putting yourself in a historic space while listening to music or a guest speaker at the same time, that’s according to Director of the Happy Retreat Wine and Jazz Festival Fiona Harrison.
“I’m from the west coast, you know, we don’t have old buildings like this; we have different sets of history; we have Mexican explorers and the pueblos and the missions and stuff,” Harrison explained, “but to have an old building like this where former presidents have sat and met and probably had dinner and conducted business, it’s, I think the community is missing out if they don’t know that, that sort of thing happened here.”
In the fall, Happy Retreat will host a Craft Beer and Music Festival.
The Department of the Interior is dropping its appeal of a ruling that said the agency shouldn’t have removed the site of the Blair Mountain labor battle from a list of historic places.
In the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Tuesday, the department and Secretary Sally Jewell filed a motion to drop the appeal.
In April, a U.S. District Court judge in Washington ruled the department was wrong in removing Blair Mountain from the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.
A lawyer for coal companies that owned potential mining sites in the area pushed for the delisting.
Environmental groups had challenged the delisting.
In 1921, some 10,000 unionizing coal miners battled police and hired guns at Blair Mountain. Sixteen men died before miners surrendered.
