Harpers Ferry Historic Town

Author's Comments

Jefferson called it the most stupendous scene in nature, which is either hyperbole or the honest reaction of a man who had never seen anything quite like two rivers meeting at the foot of a mountain. Standing at Jefferson Rock above the lower town on an October morning, I find it difficult to argue with him. The view from the rock is the obvious frame, and it earns its reputation. The Potomac and Shenandoah come together below you in a wide V, and in mid-October the surrounding ridges hold color for about two weeks before the wind takes it. Morning is better than afternoon here. The valley faces in a direction that collects early light on the water, and the haze that settles in by noon is not yet present. Come in the first hour after sunrise and you may have the rock to yourself. But I keep returning to the lower town after I have made that image. The stone buildings along the main street are genuinely nineteenth century, not reconstructed, and they read differently in morning light than they do at midday when the tourists have arrived and the shadows have gone flat. There is a particular block where the buildings step down toward the river and the gap between them frames the Shenandoah beyond. I have tried that composition in four different seasons and fall is the one that works. The crowds are real but manageable on weekday mornings. Plan to be on Jefferson Rock before eight and in the lower town by nine. By ten you will share it, and by noon it belongs to everyone.

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