Enjoy family-focused holiday fun in historic Lower Town at Harpers Ferry NHP!
Experience a Union-garrisoned town during the 1864 Christmas season in "I’ll be Home for Christmas: 1864." The park will host a series of family-friendly, fun activities and demonstrations in historic Lower Town. All activities are set against the backdrop of Harpers Ferry in 1864, when the U.S. Army had transformed the town into a major logistics center during the Civil War.
This event includes demonstrations of firing historic weapons. Please expect loud noises, and prepare children and pets.
11:00-4:00- Exhibits throughout Lower Town will be staffed with park rangers and volunteers in 1860s attire.
12:00-2:00- Harpers Ferry's Trains: Railing Against the Enemy. This electric model train demonstration helps to tell the park's transportation history before, during, and after the Civil War. Join knowledgeable volunteers to learn how the railroads were used in pre-war times for US Armory, heavy industry, Civil War troops and equipment movement, and of course, passengers. For children of all ages. (Allies for Freedom room, 2nd floor of the John Brown Museum.)
1:00-3:00- Civil War Slippers for the Sick and Wounded. The outpouring of hand-made goods, funds, and care was so vast that the relief effort was described as “an artery of the people's love to the people's army." This sewing demonstration will tell the story of both the national and local civilian and military efforts to sustain the Union Army. Stop in to see how a historic pattern of slippers aimed at the sick and wounded soldiers were made by women all across the country. (Ready Made Clothing Store.)
2:00- Captain Flagg's US Quartermaster City. It's the last Yuletide of the Civil War. The war will determine the Union of the States and eventual freedom of 4 million enslaved people. This ranger-guided begins inside the tent on the Green and includes a historic weapons firing demonstration. Please expect loud noises and prepare pets and children.
3:00-4:00- Harpers Ferry's Trains: Railing Against the Enemy. This electric model train demonstration helps to tell the park's transportation history before, during, and after the Civil War. Join knowledgeable volunteers to learn how the railroads were used in pre-war times for US Armory, heavy industry, Civil War troops and equipment movement, and of course, passengers. For children of all ages. (Allies for Freedom room, 2nd floor of the John Brown Museum.)
This event is co-sponsored by the Harpers Ferry Park Association. We thank them for their partnership.
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Also check out other
Workshops in Harpers Ferry.
