A Christmas Eve Surprise

(The family and I seem to have stayed for the last five days in the only hotel in America without free wireless internet. So this post is later than I would have liked.)

We've been visiting family near Washington, DC, for Christmas. On Christmas Eve, we needed something to fill some time while waiting to go to my brother-in-law's house for an evening get-together. We didn't have enough time, really, to go into the city, so we scanned the map for something closer to our evening's destination, something that would take only a couple of hours or so. We found Harper's Ferry, which we thought would meet all our criteria for a day's outing. So that's what we did on Christmas Eve afternoon, and it turned out to be my favorite place on our trip so far.

All I knew about Harper's Ferry was that John Brown had led some kind of rebellion there just before the Civil War (and as it turned out, what I thought I knew wasn't entirely accurate!). I'm not ashamed to admit that I was completely amazed to find the town has a fascinating history that goes back to before the Revolutionary War, when Robert Harper chose this place where the Shenandoah River joins the Potomac to locate a ferry. A couple of decades later, George Washington urged the Congress of the new United States to make an armory at the strategic location. Merriwether Lewis used the town as a base while he got together the supplies (mainly weaponry) he would need for his exploration of the new Louisiana Purchase. A school to educate former slaves was started at Harper's Ferry not long after the Civil War, and W.E.B. Du Bois met with a group of African Americans on the college campus early in the 20th century to plan the first stages of the civil rights movement. All this, and John Brown, too! There was a museum that did a very thorough job of explaining the whole set of circumstances that led to John Brown's death.

As if all the history that happened in the town was not enough, there were also a plethora of other museums that gave me a chance to see what life was like in days past. My favorite was a dry goods store, which I told my kids was the 19th-century equivalent of Wal-Mart. This store was stocked with everything from (wax) hams and fruit to bolts of fabric to dishes to pieces of leather to medical remedies to a small collection of toys. Unfortunately, we could only step about three feet into the store because it was roped off; I would have loved to have been able to go from shelf to shelf, looking at all the wonderful things. Of course, it's probably a good thing I couldn't - I don't think my family would have appreciated having to wait for me!

I have to also say the physical location of the town was fascinating to me, as well. I didn't realize the Potomac was so rough and rocky, or that it lies between such imposing bluffs. The town itself is literally built on the side of a steep hill. We climbed a set of winding steps that were carved into the rock to get to the old Catholic Church at the top of the hill (which tolled a solemn, resounding tone throughout the valley on the hour).

My daughter (age 10) kept saying she was afraid of the ghosts in the town. Of course, we told her there were no ghosts, but I can understand why she was saying that. It was a cloudy, cool day with some blustery wind, and there were only a few other people wandering through the deserted streets between the old buildings. But while she saw the "ghosts" as something to be afraid of, I think of them as possible friends, waiting to tell me their stories.

What's It All About?

My favorite toys when I was growing up were the Johnny West action figures (of course, we called them "dolls" back then, lol). I spent a lot of hours making up all kinds of stories and acting them out with the Johnny West figures and the Barbies. The Barbies, whether they liked it or not, always had to be pioneer women, not fashion models; the Johnny West figures NEVER were transported to the 20th century! Even then, I had a passionate interest in what I think is now called "social history" -- how people lived in times past.

I never outgrew that passion. My favorite books are historical fiction, mainly about the 19th century, along with the occasional non-fiction book about some historical topic. My favorite family vacation was when we went to Fort Boonesborough in Kentucky, where they have displays of what the cabins probably looked like when people first lived in the fort and demonstrations of the skills people had to have to survive. My favorite hobbies are hiking through the woods, or sewing, or knitting, or something similar that my great-great-great-grandmothers probably did as a daily chore.

Lately I've found myself looking at things around me with that "history eye" again. When I'm hanging out clothes on the line, I think about what it must have been like for a pioneer woman to try to do her laundry without a washing machine. When I walk past the black walnuts crushed in the parking lot at work, I think about the pioneers who probably picked up and cracked out every black walnut they could find for a mid-winter's treat. Even a gloomy, cloudy morning makes me think about how very dark it must have been inside a cabin with only one window, or maybe none at all.

So that's what this blog is about. Sometimes we'll ask the question "What must it have been like?" Sometimes we'll tell the story, "Here's what it was like." Along the way, I hope we can stir that passion for things historical in a few more folks.