Historic Furnishings Report: Exterior Furnishings of Lower Town Harpers Ferry
Heald SH. 1995. Historic Furnishings Report: Exterior Furnishings of Lower Town Harpers Ferry. Historic Furnishing Reports. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
Harpers Ferry National Historical Park preserves historic resources and commemorates the historic events that occurred at and around Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. The park consists of portions of the Lower Town, the former Storer College campus, landscapes associated with the national historical park’s Civil War significance, and lands preserving the historic viewshed down the Potomac River. This report gives historic furnishings details concerning the buildings of the Lower Town area of Harpers Ferry. Exterior furnishings provide clues to the daily life of Harpers Ferry residents. Unfortunately, because they are outside and unprotected they will be difficult to keep secure. Additionally, not all elements of the outdoor material culture can be exhibited as one might like due to modern park management considerations. While calling for more exterior furnishings, the Interpretive Prospectus warned, "the practice should be encouraged to the extent that it does not require park staff to move items in and out every day, and provided it does not impede circulation on days when thousands of visitors are in town." Without a barrier or personal attention some objects cannot be securely placed nor fully interpreted outside and the park cannot staff all of the park's outdoors all of the time. Because of such practical considerations, this plan presents a limited number and type of historic outdoor artifacts. Commercial signs appeared on more businesses than called for in this plan. But considerable visitor confusion would be created by placing historic signs on buildings not historically furnished, such as rest rooms or exhibitions entered by the public. To avoid such confusion, the plan does not specify signs for as many buildings as the historic record indicates. Buildings with historically furnished interiors will have historic signs on their facades, as many already do (buildings 14, 40, 34, 35, 7, and 16; the last four of these will be done as part of their interior furnishings plans now in progress). This exterior furnishings plan, then, includes historic signs for buildings 12, 11, and 9. As part of this plan, modern outdoor objects that do not have to be visible on park property should be removed. Backyard areas are where this seems to occur most frequently, particularly on porches and in association with buildings that contain modern apartment space. For these porches the park may want to suggest types of seating that staff could use which would better blend with the historic appearance of Lower Town. The two chair types specified in this plan, rod-back chairs and captain's chairs, would be appropriate, as would a very basic bench like the benches associated with the Lockwood House in Harpers Ferry NHP. This additional seating is not specified in the recommended furnishings section of this report since, historically, porch furniture was uncommon in nineteenth-century towns other than resorts where chairs lined hotel porches for visitors to relax in; domestic porch furniture per se is a more modem phenomenon. In small towns, people tended to take their indoor furniture of lesser quality out on to their porches and would bring it back in when they returned inside.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Heald, Sarah
- Date of Issue
- 1995
- Publisher
- U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
- Units
- HAFE , NCR
- Keywords
- Civil War, furnishings, Lower Town, quarters, Shenandoah Street, Wager, Wager Lot
- Subjects
- CRIS-HS: 000549: Lower Town; Bldg. #01A, Harper House , CRIS-HS: 000548: Lower Town; Bldg. #01B, Marmion Hall , CRIS-HS: 000558: Lower Town; Bldg. #01C, 2nd Marmion Tenant House , CRIS-HS: 045433: Lower Town; Bldg. #01D, 1st Marmion Tenant House , CRIS-HS: 000619: Lower Town; Bldg. #10, John C. Unseld Building , CRIS-HS: 000622: Lower Town; Bldg. #11, William Anderson Bldg. , CRIS-HS: 000566: Lower Town; Bldg. #12, Ann C Stephenson Building , CRIS-HS: 000545: Lower Town; Bldg. #16, Frederick A. Roeder House , CRIS-HS: 003867: Lower Town; Bldg. #33, Ranger Station , CRIS-HS: 000557: Lower Town; Bldg. #34, Old Master Armorer's House , CRIS-HS: 045408: Lower Town; Bldg. #35, Old Master Armorer's House , CRIS-HS: 000550: Lower Town; Bldg. #36, New Master Armorer's Qtrs , CRIS-HS: 000554: Lower Town; Bldg. #37, John T. Reiley Building , CRIS-HS: 000608: Lower Town; Bldg. #38, Tearney Building , CRIS-HS: 713906: Lower Town; Bldg. #40 Rear Ruins , CRIS-HS: 000553: Lower Town; Bldg. #40, William Richards Building , CRIS-HS: 000552: Lower Town; Bldg. #43, McCabe-Marmion Building , CRIS-HS: 000551: Lower Town; Bldg. #44, Philip Coons Building , CRIS-HS: 000556: Lower Town; Bldg. #45, Stage Coach Inn , CRIS-HS: 000587: Lower Town; Bldg. #48, Armory Dwelling House , CRIS-HS: 000546: Lower Town; Bldg. #5, Frederick A. Roeder Store , CRIS-HS: 000621: Lower Town; Bldg. #7, White Hall Tavern , CRIS-HS: 000565: Lower Town; Bldg. #9, Gerard Bond Wager Building