ENGINE HOUSE OF THE FEDERAL ARSENAL (John Brown’s Fort). Address – Shenandoah Street. The Engine House of the Federal Arsenal, commonly known as John Brown’s Fort, is the site where abolitionist John Brown and 21 men, 16 white and five black (Lewis Sheridan Leary, Dangerfield Newby, John Anthony Copeland, Jr., Shields Green and Osborn Perry Anderson) attempted to seize the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry in 1859 to free the slaves of Virginia. Since the battle, the Fort has been relocated several times, including on the Murphy Farm and the Storer College campus. The Fort is now located in lower town Harpers Ferry on Shenandoah Street. A monument now stands at the original site of the Fort (on the hillside of Potomac Street near the railroad station).
AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY MUSEUM (Black Voices). Address – Shenandoah Street. Located in lower town Harpers Ferry, the African American History Museum is exclusively dedicated to ancestors native to Harpers Ferry, but is relevant to all guests. This audio-visual museum takes visitors through the historical paths from slavery to freedom.
STORER COLLEGE – NIAGARA MOVEMENT MUSEUM. Address – Shenandoah Street. The Storer-Niagara Museum is located in lower town Harpers Ferry. It houses three rooms of exhibits dedicated to education and the struggle for equality. In the foyer, visitors are greeted with bold reminders of the journey toward freedom for all Americans. A tiny replica of a classroom, representative of the past, stimulates the imaginations of young visitors. A wealth of information to read is displayed on the walls in each room. One wall honors African American presidents of Storer College. Another bestows photographs of its graduates. The final room in the self-guided tour highlights the works of Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, and other leaders and activists determined to eradicate Jim Crow laws and segregation.
CURTIS MEMORIAL CHAPEL. Address – Filmore Street. The Curtis Memorial Chapel (formerly known as the Curtis Free Will Baptist Church) is located opposite the former Storer College campus. The Free Will Baptist missionaries from New England came to the south to establish churches and schools for newly freed slaves. For more than two decades, worship services were held at Storer College, first in Lockwood House, and after 1869, in the college chapel in Anthony Hall. The present Chapel was dedicated on May 27, 1896, and continued to provide a place for worship to Storer College students and faculty until 1955 when the college closed. Much of the interior wood work and exterior stone and brick work of the Chapel were done by students from Storer College under the direction of Hamilton Hatter, a native of the county, and a teacher and former student at Storer.
ANTHONY HALL (Storer College Room). Address – Filmore Street. Anthony Hall, as it was called during the Storer College era, was later renamed the Mather Building. It stands stately in the center of the gated Storer College campus, semi-surrounded by former college classroom buildings and pictorial markers. The Storer College Room, dedicated to the legacy of the college, is located in this building. This brick edifice is now part of the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, and is used as a federal training facility.
HALLTOWN UNION COLORED SUNDAY SCHOOL (Halltown Memorial Chapel). Address – Halltown Road. The Halltown Memorial Chapel was constructed in 1901 by Halltown’s African American community. What began as a thriving Sunday school around 1900 evolved into a Baptist congregation, and finally served as a community chapel between 1901 and the mid-1960s. The chapel fell into disrepair for nearly 20 years, but was restored and reopened in 1984 for community use and social events such as weddings. This picturesque one-room chapel is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
HALLTOWN COLORED SCHOOL. Address – Halltown Road. The Halltown Colored School was built in 1908, and it still stands directly behind the Halltown Memorial Chapel. This one-room school educated African American students, and remained in use until 1930.
TOLIVER BUILDING. Address – Princess and German Streets. J.M. Toliver, an African American, owned a successful business in downtown Shepherdstown. In 1894, his well-established restaurant burned down. He later built the large brick building located on the corner of Princess and German Streets, where he owned and operated a restaurant and an ice cream parlor.
ASBURY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH (St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church). Address – Church and High Streets. The members of this church believe its origin dates back to 1859. This information was not documented, but is supported by the fact that Asbury’s first building, located on Rockey Street in Shepherdstown, was destroyed by fire during the Civil War. It is believed the forebearers of Asbury were St. Andrew’s Episcopalians who, after the Civil War, became African Methodist Episcopalians. As slaves, they could not purchase property, so their deed to the church building was held by the white congregation of Trinity Episcopal Church. On December 19, 1867, Asbury’s trustees purchased a building at Church and High Streets in Shepherdstown from Trinity Episcopal Church. This was the same structure that the slave congregation of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church had purchased and held worship services in. St. Andrew’s was dissolved in 1900.
JAMESTOWN. Address – Jamestown Road. Only a few remnants of this black community remain. The Jamestown Cemetery is co-located with the Prosperity Baptist Church, which is approximately 120 years old. It is the burial site for many African American soldiers from the Korean War and World War II, and perhaps World War I. Today, the cemetery is known as Prosperity Cemetery. The church formerly was situated a few miles away in Summit Point. It was dismantled and hauled by wagons to its current location.
SLAVE CABIN AT MT. ELLEN PLANTATION. Address – 3427 Summit Point Road. A slave cabin and one slightly larger cabin that was used as a tollgate house are present at Mt. Ellen Plantation. The two cabins were moved there from the nearby Mt. Pleasant area. Today, both cabins are refurbished with new roofs and rebuilt chimneys, but the authenticity of the original workmanship remains. The Mt. Ellen Plantation (once known as Grantham’s Mansion) is privately-owned.
GIBSONTOWN. Address – Gibsontown Road. Gibsontown was a small African American community located a few miles south of Charles Town on Rt. 340 South. The main remnant of this community is the Fairview Cemetery, established in 1888. This cemetery, originally named “Ventosa”, was the primary ancestral burial ground for the African American community in Charles Town through the 1970s, and remains in use today. Black Civil War and Spanish American War veterans, as well as former slaves, are buried in the cemetery. The entrance to the cemetery is Gibsontown Road, just past the Page Jackson Elementary School.
PAGE_JACKSON ROOM. Address – Mordington Avenue & Page-Jackson Way. At the request of the Jefferson County branch of the NAACP, the Jefferson County Board of Education set aside a room in their office building that was designated, “The Page-Jackson Room”. Dedication services were held on July 26, 1986, by the NAACP. Shortly thereafter, the NAACP relinquished the management and the completion of this room to the Page-Jackson Alumni Association. The Page-Jackson Room Exhibit was unveiled and dedicated by the Alumni Association on July 24, 1993. This exhibit is open to the public during the regular office hours of the School Board.
FISHERMAN’S HALL (Galilean Temple). Address – S. West and Academy Streets. Fishermen’s Hall was built by the Charles Town Industrial Association, an African American organization for the local tabernacle of the Grand United Order of the Galilean Fishermen. The group supported community development and economic empowerment of Blacks in Jefferson County. Over the years, the building has served as a black community center and a meeting place for Star Lodge Masons, John Brown Elks, Knights of Pythias, American Legion Post #63, church services, and finally a tavern. Legendary showman and comic Silas Green, as well as other show business figures, performed in the hall. The cornerstone reads, “Galilean Temple June 6, 1885”. The building is owned and has been restored by the African American Community Association of Jefferson County.
WAINWRIGHT BAPTIST CHURCH. Address – W. Avis and S. West Streets. In 1868, Rev. Nathan Brackett of the Freedmen’s Bureau donated land to a small group of freed slaves for their newly-organized church, the Colored Free Will Baptist Church of Charles Town. Rev. Chester C. Wainwright was its pastor from 1874 until his death in 1902. The church was, posthumously, renamed Wainwright Baptist Church. It is the oldest black Baptist church in Jefferson County.
STAR LODGE #1 F&AM (Old Stone House 1795). Address – W. Avis and S. Lawrence Streets. This building is one of the oldest stone structures in Charles Town. The land was purchased from Charles Washington in 1791. John Locke erected the building around 1795. Star Lodge #1 F&AM and Queen of the Valley Lodge #1558, Order of the Odd Fellows sold their share of the building to the Star Lodge in June 1927. The Free and Accepted Masons still own the structure. It is a Charles Town Historical Landmark.
ST. PHILIP’S PAROCHIAL AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL., St. Philip’s Academy, St. Philip’s Sewing School. Address – 409 S. Lawrence Street These three schools figured prominently in the history of St. Philip’s Church. Young women were trained in a sewing school started by Mrs. William Craighill from Zion Episcopal Church in 1875. In 1900, St. Philip’s Parochial and Industrial School was started in the Parish Hall under the leadership of St. Philip’s Church minister and principal Rev. John Deaver, and teachers Mrs. Sarah D. Tolbert and Mrs. J. N. Deaver. The church newsletter was printed by the school. The St. Philip’s Day School (or Academy, as it was sometimes called) was organized in the 1920s and the 1930s by Rev. Joseph H. Hudson and paid teachers Miss Nethersole Ross and Miss Marion Ridgley. Subjects included reading, writing, arithmetic, spelling, and printing. Weekly tuition fees of $.25 to $.45 financed the school. The school was closed as a result of the Great Depression. St. Philip’s also served as an emergency hospital for African Americans during the 1918 Influenza epidemic. Hundreds of blacks and whites died from the highly contagious virus disease.
MT. ZION UNITED METHODIST CHURCH (1867). Address – 303 S. Charles Street. In 1867, 33 people organized the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, the first black Methodist church in Charles Town. The rear of the edifice was completed in 1867, and the front was completed in 1887. Mt. Zion was added to the name around 1887.
JOHN BROWN’S HANGING SITE. Address – S. Samuel Street. Between December 2, 1859 and March 1860, John Brown and six members of the Provisional Army were hanged in Charles Town for their revolt against slavery in Harpers Ferry. John Brown was hanged on December 2, 1859; John A. Copeland Jr., Shields Green (both were young black men), Edwin Coppic, and John E. Cook were hanged on December 16, 1859; and Albert Hazlet and Aaron Stevens were hanged on March 16, 1860. The hanging site is located on South Samuel Street, and is a Jefferson County Historical Landmark.
CHARLES TOWN’S POTTERS FIELD (“Coloured” Grave Yard). Address – South Seminary and Avis Streets. This ninety foot square lot was deeded to the Trustees of Charles Town on December 16, 1836. The lot was to be used as a “potters field and burying place for coloured persons.” A mock burial ceremony was held here in 2006 for Shields Green and John Copeland Jr., since there was no service following their executions.
FIRST BLACK SCHOOL IN CHARLES TOWN. Address – W. Liberty and Samuel Streets. In 1865, the Freedmen’s Bureau, working with the American Missionary Association, established schools in Jefferson County for the newly freed slaves. The first school established in Charles Town was at the residence of Achilles Dixon, a free African American blacksmith. It was located on the corner of Liberty and Samuel Streets. The home served as a school until the county began its own system for providing public education for black students sometime between 1867 and 1874.
JEFFERSON COUNTY COURTHOUSE. Address – Washington and George Streets. The Jefferson County Courthouse is the site where John Brown and six of his companions were tried, convicted, and sentenced to be hanged. The courthouse also witnessed the trial of William Blizzard, the alleged leader of striking coal miners in 1922. The trials of John Brown and William Blizzard were two of the three treason trials held in the United States prior to World War II. African Americans were involved in both trials.
ZION BAPTIST CHURCH (1881). Address – Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The Zion Baptist Church, located on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, was founded in 1881. It was organized by former slaves, and was originally named the Second Baptist Church, since the Charles Town white congregation was named the First Baptist Church.
THE SECOND BLACK SCHOOL IN CHARLES TOWN. Address – Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. On October 12, 1867, the Charles Town District Board of Education purchased a lot on Harewood Avenue (now Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.). Between 1867 and 1874, a school was built on this lot next to the Zion Baptist Church. This school was known as the Charles Town District Colored Graded School, operating until a new school was built on Eagle Avenue in 1894. It is a Charles Town Historical Landmark.
