Jefferson Rock, Harpers Ferry NHP, WV
**Harpers Ferry National Historical Park** - National Register of Historic Places Ref # 66000041, date listed 19661015

At confluence of Shenandoah and Potomac rivers

Harpers Ferry, WV (Jefferson County)

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park contains important features of the historic town of Harpers Ferry and its environs. Located at the scenic confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Harpers Ferry was an Important manufacturing and commercial town from 1800 to the Civil War. 

In 1859 the town was the scene of the electrifying John Brown raid, an event of major importance in bringing the nation to civil war. Strategically important. Harpers Ferry changed hands several times during that war. Its capture, together with 12,693 Union soldiers defending the town, by &quot;Stonewall&quot; Jackson in 1862 was a dramatic prelude to the great battle at Antietam Creek that ended the first Southern invasion of the North. 

The many standing 19th century commercial and residential structures are architecturally significant, and the many more such buildings and industrial structures now represented only by subsurface remains comprise a great archeological resource. An added dimension is provided by the buildings of the former Storer College, illustrating the efforts of the Freedmen's Bureau and private philanthropy to aid and educate blacks after the Civil War. (pg 45)

Jefferson's Rock is a huge slab of shale resting in a balanced position on the cliff in the unbuilt South Cliff Street south of Harper's Graveyard. From here on October 25, 1783, Thomas Jefferson viewed the Harpers Ferry water gap and formed the dramatic impression of it recounted in his Notes on Virginia. The rock was identified as &quot;Jefferson's Rock&quot; on an 1803 map of Harpers Ferry. About 1858 four carved red sandstone pillars were placed under the corners of the rock to stabilize it. This was probably done by Edward Tearney, a Harpers Ferry stone- cutter, under orders of Armory Superintendent Henry W. Clowe. The stabilized rock appears today as it did then. (pg 34) (1)

References (1) NRHP Nomination Form <a href="http://www.wvculture.org/shpo/nr/pdf/jefferson/66000041.pdf" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.wvculture.org/shpo/nr/pdf/jefferson/66000041.pdf</a>
chfstew westvirginia wvjeffersoncounty nationalregisterofhistoricplaces nrhpsouth nrhp66er uspresident appalachiantrail