From John Brown to W.E.B. DuBois, Harpers Ferry has been a prominent stage for American history. During the Jim Crow era, Storer College students referred to the Camp Hill campus of Storer College as the Hill of Hope, as it represented a place of refuge, equality, and inspiration, even when local residents were not uniformly welcoming (the college’s first Black president, Richard McKinney arrived in 1944 with a Ph.D from Yale and was greeted with a burning cross).
The Camp Hill tour ends with a stop inside the historic Lockwood House (newly preserved by the National Park Service) prior to its re-opening to the public. Guide David Fox served as an interpretive park ranger at Harpers Ferry for 30 years, retiring in 2018. He is interested in everything the park has to offer but especially John Brown’s Raid, Black history and the intersection of natural and cultural history.
Meet at the front of the Stephen T. Mather Training Center, 51 Mather Place, Harpers Ferry. Easy walk on sidewalks and grass. $10 donation per person, open to public. Registration required online at HarpersFerryHistory.org.
By Staff Contributor