Vandals Spray-paint Jefferson Rock At Harpers Ferry
By Deborah Fitts
Feb./March 2005

HARPERS FERRY, W. Va. - Jefferson Rock at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, honored for two centuries for its impressive view and its connection to the third U.S. president, was coated with red paint by vandals in December in what park officials said was "the worst case of damage to a cultural resource in the park's 60-year history."

The crime occurred late on Dec. 21 or early Dec. 22.

On Jan. 20 three men appeared before a U.S. Magistrate who released them on bail. U.S. Attorney Thomas E. Johnson, who announced the men's names, but not their ages, said, "The United States Attorney's Office, the National Park Service and the Harpers Ferry Police Department do not take this felony offense lightly and are determined to bring individuals who commit these kinds of crimes to justice."

The unusual collection of shale boulders, accessible only by foot, is located on the Appalachian Trail overlooking the park's Lower Town.

"It was a bright, fire-engine red that literally could have been seen from across the Shenandoah River," said Dennis Frye, the park's chief of interpretation, education and cultural resources. "It looked like a Christmas present."

An initial treatment of acetone by conservation professionals at the National Park Service's nearby Harpers Ferry Interpretive Design Center removed a layer of red. But Jennifer Flynn, the park's chief ranger, said at presstime in January that the rock was still "very pink," and the conservators were planning additional treatment.

Posing a major challenge, Flynn said, were the numerous historic graffiti carved into the boulder over the decades. "There's still a lot of paint in all those nooks and crannies."

The cost of the damage in terms of personnel, cleanup and law enforcement would likely top $10,000, Flynn predicted.

Adjoining rocks were also spray-painted, and Flynn said they have been cleaned up successfully. Among the painted figures and words she said she could only make out one word, "Peace."

Thomas Jefferson mounted the rock during his visit to the area in 1783, later writing in <i>Notes on Virginia </i>that the view down the Shenandoah River to the water gap in the Blue Ridge was "worth a voyage across the Atlantic."

Frye said the rock "is a very peculiar formation, balanced precariously over the Shenandoah River, and visible for a great distance." It became a "tourist icon" in the late 1700s. In 1858-60 the U.S. Armory in Harpers Ferry steadied the teetering upper rock by fashioning four sandstone pillars that still support it today. (The entire formation is known as Jefferson Rock; the vandals painted only the upper boulder.)

Frye said the paint on the rock was "completely incompatible with the historic significance of this site, and it detracts from the extraordinary natural beauty of this area."

Jefferson Rock is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Flynn said thousands of park visitors trek to see it every year.