The Jefferson County Museum will host its final event of the year celebrating the recent update and expansion of its permanent John Brown Raid exhibit on Saturday, November 23. The event will take place in the Charles Town Library basement meeting room (200 East Washington St, Charles Town), beginning at 11:00 am.
Local author Lynn Pechuekonis will present her research on the era of Reconstruction in Harpers Ferry. In Harpers Ferry, Storer College was a beacon for thousands of Black youth during the Reconstruction era. But the college is not the only notable post-Civil War story in Harpers Ferry. Off the campus, Harpers Ferry became home to a thriving Black community after Emancipation — a place with low barriers to home ownership, exceptional schools, opportunities for entrepreneurship, integrated neighborhoods, and strong community structures.
For this program, Pechuekonis will examine the early Black community, using her research on the founding of the Hill Top House and the life of Storer’s longest serving Black teacher as windows into life during Reconstruction and beyond.
Lynn Pechuekonis is an author and historian who lives in the Harpers Ferry home originally belonging to Professor William A. Saunders of Storer College. She is the author of a biography of Saunders entitled “Man of Sterling Worth.” Her current work-in-progress is a biography of the Thomas Lovett family, African American founders of the famous Hill Top House.
Visit the Jefferson County Museum online at JeffCoMusemWV.org. The museum is located at 200 East Washington St, Charles Town (in the basement of the the Charles Town library building). The museum is open from mid-March to mid December. Hours are 10 to 4 Tuesday through Friday and 9 to 1 on Saturdays.
By Staff Contributor