JEFFERSON’S ROCK--
at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia

On October 25, 1783 Thomas Jefferson stood at this location high above the Shenandoah River at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia and described the scene thusly;

"The passage of the Patowmac through the Blue Ridge is perhaps one of the most stupendous scenes in Nature. You stand on a very high point of land. On your right comes up the Shenandoah, having ranged along the foot of the mountain a hundred miles to seek a vent. On your left approaches the Patowmac in quest of a passage also.

In the moment of their junction they rush together against the mountain, rend it asunder and pass off to the sea. The first glance of this scene hurries our senses into the opinion that this earth has been created in time, that the mountains were formed first, that the rivers began to flow afterwards, that in this place particularly they have been so dammed up by the Blue Ridge of mountains as to have formed an ocean which filled the whole valley; that, continuing to rise, they have at last broken over at this spot and have torn the mountain down from its summit to its base.

The piles of rock on each hand, but particularly on the Shenandoah, the evident marks of their disruptions and avulsions from their beds by the most powerful agents in nature, corroborate the impression....”

Part of our group of 10 square dancing friends ponder the historical plaques at Jefferson’s Rock in the top photo—each, in his or her own way, sensing the magnitude of our country’s history that occurred here.

The upper view is looking upstream along the Shenandoah River.  In the lower photo the river is visible behind the church steeple where Roberta Karger enjoys the view of its confluence with the Potomac River in Harpers Ferry as it flows on toward the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

Saturday, Fogeyisms will tell you more about our visit to the historical treasure of Harpers Ferry where we launched a weekend of hiking the Appalachian Trail in four, adjacent states. We hope you will join us.