Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
Harpers Ferry, population 286 at the 2010 census, is a historic town in Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States, in the lower Shenandoah Valley. It is situated at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, where the U.S. states of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia meet. It is the easternmost town in West Virginia and during the Civil War was the northernmost point of Confederate-controlled territory. It has been called, speaking... Show more of the Civil War, "the best strategic point in the whole South".The town was formerly spelled Harper's Ferry with an apostrophe—in the 18th century, it was the site of a ferry service owned and operated by Robert Harper. According to the U.S. Postal Service, the apostrophe is no longer used. By far the most important event in the town's history is John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, of 1859. The main economic activity in the town in the 20th and...