Existing comment:
An Enduring Sentinel:
"... on a hill over against Shepherdstown, where from the gallery of its old house I could look for miles out into Old Virginia."
-- Henry Kyd Douglas, I Rode with Stonewall
More than two centuries of American determination and innovation have converged at Ferry Hill -- where people and the Potomac have shaped both the character of the land and the nation.
Always a place of change, Ferry Hill's transformation persisted in the 1950s when Josephine Beckenbaugh sold her interest in the property to Frederick Morrison. Restaurant services continued at "Ferry Hill Inn" and the mansion was modified further. The National Park Service acquired the house and adjacent land in 1974.
Care was taken to maintain the home's original fabric as Ferry Hill became the administrative headquarters for Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park until 2002. Although the house awaits future preservation efforts, its wide windows and worn floor still offer opportunities to imagine eras of prosperity, as well as times of trouble. |