CWPT Buys Schoolhouse Ridge Land at Harpers Ferry
By Deborah Fitts
August 2002

HARPERS FERRY, W.Va. — "We're very excited about it," said Trust spokesman Jim Campi. "Harpers Ferry is clearly one of the preeminent battlefields of the Civil War, and one of the most picturesque as well."

Gen. Thomas J. Jackson occupied the ridge Sept. 13-15, 1862, when he laid siege to the federal garrison at Harpers Ferry. The Union force of 12,500 surrendered Sept. 15, one of the largest surrenders of American troops in history.

The rolling fields being purchased by the Trust once were the site of "Harpers Ferry Caverns," an underground tourist attraction with a campground that was active in the 1960s and '70s, according to Marsha Starkey of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.

Otherwise, since the war "It hasn't been built on," said Starkey. "It maintains its historic integrity."

The property is located directly across Bakerton Road from 56 acres of open ground that the former Civil War Trust (a predecessor of the Civil War Preservation Trust) purchased in 1995 and donated to the park.

The earlier purchase, on the back side of Bolivar Heights, comprised the Union skirmish line. But Starkey said until now the Confederate line has been unprotected.

"Within our boundary we had the Union part of the story," she said. "Now they're preserving the Confederate line."

The Trust's Schoolhouse Ridge property is included in a boundary expansion now being proposed by the park. The park recently completed a survey of local public reaction to the proposal, and Starkey said it was "overwhelmingly in support."

The park is now compiling a report to submit to the Appropriations Committee of the U.S. Senate. When legislators may actually introduce legislation to expand the boundary is uncertain, Starkey said.

The park is currently within 160 acres of its boundary "cap," she noted. The expansion would add another 1299 acres. The park currently comprises 2345 acres.

The $1.74 million for the Schoolhouse Ridge purchase comes from several sources, Campi said: $420,000 from the federal Land & Water Conservation Fund, $536,000 from the federal American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP), $55,000 from the State of West Virginia, and $200,000.from the Trust.

He said the small amount remaining is to be raised by the end of this year and will likely come from the Trust and a West Virginia transportation grant.

The West Virginia Historic Preservation Office will hold a conservation easement on the Schoolhouse Ridge property. That office and the Town of Harpers Ferry will serve as partners with the Trust in the acquisition project, Campi noted, with the town serving as the required governmental recipient of the ABPP grant.