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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.
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HARPCH_150802_33.JPG: St. John's Episcopal Church:
These weathered ruins are all that remains of St. John's Episcopal Church -- one of Harpers Ferry's five earliest churches.
Built in 1852 with money provided by church fairs, St John's served as a hospital and barracks during the Civil War and suffered considerable damage. It was rebuilt afterward but was abandoned in 1895 when a new Episcopal church was built in the upper town.
HARPCH_150802_44.JPG: Welcome to St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church
Harpers Ferry, W. Va
High above the storied town of Harpers Ferry, with the tranquil waters of the Shenandoah River flowing just below, sits historic St. Peter's Church. Deeply rooted in the rich history of the Church of West Virginia, the Civil War and one of the state's oldest towns, the chapel is a firm link to the Catholic heritage, which still serves generations of parishioners and visitors.
Since its establishment in 1830, St. Peter's has been the focal point for many historic events, particularly John Brown's Raid on October 16-19, 1859, and the American Civil War.
In addition, several prominent pioneers of the Catholic Church, both in West Virginia and in America, have been associated with St. Peter's as parishioners, missionaries, or pastors.
Through its history and beauty, St. Peter's has become one of the most visited sites in historic Harpers Ferry.
HARPCH_150802_50.JPG: John Brown's Raid
October 16, 1859
"On the night of the 16th of October last, a party of abolitionists came to Harper's Ferry, and while the citizens peacefully slept, they took possession of the United States' Armoury, Rifle Works, and Arsenal. Next morning, when the inhabitants awoke, they were surprised to see parties of armed men patrolling the streets, and as some of them attempted to pass to their employment they were takne prisoners by the insurgents and marched into the Armoury, where they were placed under guard. As soon as the object of the insurrection became known, the citizens prepared to defend themselves and drive away the invaders. Accordingly, armed with any old guns they could find, they shot at the enemy who appeared in the streets, and the invaders returning their fire mortally wounded one of the citizens. The wounded man being a Catholic, I was called to attend him, and as I had to pass through the insurgents on my way, when I started I had very little hope that they would allow me to pass, as they were making prisoners of all they could catch. However, they allowed me to attend the dying man. I administered to him the last Sacraments, and he died soon after."
-- Rev. Costello's Letter to Father Harrington, All Hallows College, February 11, 1860
HARPCH_150802_52.JPG: St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church:
Construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad produced an influx of Irish laborers into the Harpers Ferry area during the early 1830's. St. Peter's Catholic Church, completed in 1833, symbolizes America's melting pot tradition and the customs, habits, and religion of the early Irish immigrants.
During the Civil War, to protect the church from Union and Confederate shells, Father Costello flew the British Union Jack flag as a symbol of the church's neutrality. St. Peter's escaped the war relatively unscathed.
St. Peter's was remodeled to its present appearance in 1896, and Mass is offered here every Sunday.
AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Bigger photos? To save server space, the full-sized versions of these images have either not been loaded to the server or have been removed from the server. (Only some pages are loaded with full-sized images and those usually get removed after three months.)
I still have them though. If you want me to email them to you, please send an email to guthrie.bruce@gmail.com
and I can email them to you, or, depending on the number of images, just repost the page again will the full-sized images.
Directly Related Pages: Other pages with content (WV -- Harpers Ferry NHP -- Churches (Some Private)) directly related to this one:
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2015 photos: Equipment this year: I mostly used my Fuji XS-1 camera but, depending on the event, I also used a Nikon D7000.
I retired from the US Census Bureau in god-forsaken Suitland, Maryland on my 58th birthday in May. Yee ha!
Trips this year:
a quick trip to Florida.
two Civil War Trust conferences (Raleigh, NC and Richmond, VA), and
my 10th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con trip (including Los Angeles).
Ego Strokes: Carolyn Cerbin used a Kevin Costner photo in her USA Today article. Miss DC pictures were used a few times in the Washington Post.
Number of photos taken this year: just over 550,000.
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