Map and Guide to the Lower Town

National Park Service

 

---

Trail Information. Sidewalks and crushed stone foot-paths. Beware of cobblestone gutters. The climb up the Stone Steps to the Harper House and Jefferson Rock is moderately strenuous. Watch for traffic on all roadways.

---

1. Information Center Start your visit here with an orientation to park stories and information.
2. Restoration Museum Explore "layers" of history and discover how a building changes over time.
3. Frankel's Clothing Store This exhibit reveals a revolution in the clothing industry tied to machines and advanced by war.
4. Industry Museum Transportation improvements and industrial innovations gave rise to Harpers Ferry. Original machines feature weapons production technology.
5. National Park Bookshop Stop here for a fine selection of books, videos and gifts of local and national interest. [Visit the National Park Bookshop].
6. Blacksmith Shop Experience some of the sights, sounds and stories of a 19th century working-class town. (Open seasonally).
7. Hamilton Street Building foundations and photos mark the sites of a pre-Civil War riverside neighborhood.
8. Harpers Ferry: A Place In Time Explore the growth of the town from past to present. (Video program).
9. Provost Marshal Office Learn about the Provost Marshal who served as judge, jailer and, if need be, executioner.
10. Mrs. Stipes Boarding House Visit the widow Cornelia Stipes' boarding house during the Civil War. Rooms occupied by war correspondent James Taylor and a military officer are located on the second floor.
11. Dry Goods Store Clothes, hardware, liquor, groceries and other merchandise that arrived daily by railroad and canal in the 19th century are on display.
12. Arsenal Square Arms produced at the Harpers Ferry Armory were stored in two brick buildings here - the Small Arsenal and Large Arsenal.
13. John Brown's Fort Originally the Armory's fire enginehouse and watchman's office, John Brown barricaded himself here during the final moments of his raid. [Learn more about John Brown's Fort].
14. The Point View the gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains as you stand at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers. [Learn more about The Point].
15. John Brown Museum Explore the story of John Brown and the struggle over slavery. (Video program).
16. Allies For Freedom Learn about the five African-American raiders who joined John Brown. (Located on the second floor of the John Brown Museum).
17. Harpers Ferry Wetlands Discover the history and nature of this special resource along the bottomland of the Shenandoah River.
18. Education & The Struggle For Equality Find out about one of the first schools in the New South for former slaves, and learn about the struggle for equality in the 20th century.
19. Alfred Burton Jewlery Store This frame building, reconstructed from original historic fabric, displays the wares and tools of this local businessman.
20. Confectionery Learn a tragic story of a family touched by war.
21. Civil War Museum Discover the twists and turns of four years of civil war in Harpers Ferry.
22. Black Voices Listen to human stories of struggle and triumph.
23. Harper House This is the oldest surviving building in Harpers Ferry. The lower level, halfway up the Stone Steps, exhibits an armory worker's apartment.
24. Jefferson Rock Here in 1783, Thomas Jefferson described this view as "worth a voyage across the Atlantic." [Read Jefferson's entire description].