of Harpers Ferry Landscape in 1857 and 1859 |
of Harpers Ferry Landscape in 1857 and 1859 |
| The image below shows an 1857 painting by Ferdinand Richardt, entitled "View of the Potomac Watergap from Jefferson Rock," which was reproduced in The Virginia Landscape: A Cultural History, by James C. Kelly and William M. S. Rasmussen, p. 55 (Howell Press, Charlottesville, Virginia, 2000). |
| The next image, below, shows an 1859 painting by Ferdinand Richardt, entitled "Harpers Ferry," which was reproduced in The Virginia Landscape: A Cultural History, by James C. Kelly and William M. S. Rasmussen, p. 56 (Howell Press, Charlottesville, Virginia, 2000). Note the front facade of St. Peter's Church depicted near the center of this image, and the buildings of the armory along the river front. |
| Edward Beyers, a German artist who travelled in Virginia in 1857, published his Album of Virginia: Illustrations of the Old Dominion the following year. This album included Beyer's 1857 landscape painting of Harpers Ferry as seen from the location of Jefferson's Rock. St. Peter's Church and school house are featured prominently in this rendering. During the same visit, he also painted a detailed landscape of the U.S Armory along the Potomac River at Harpers Ferry. You can view these images on the Valley of the Shadow web site. |  |
| A 1996 artist's rendering (below) of the Harpers Ferry landscape provides an interpretation of how it likely appeared 1859. This rendering shows the armory factory buildings along the Potomac River front on the right, and St. Peter's Church and school house, along with some outbuildings, on a hill-top to the left. The south side of St. Peter's overlooks the houses, mills and commercial buildings along the Shenandoah River at the base of the image. This rendering appears in the National Park Service's brochures for Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, which include illustrations by Richard Schlecht. |
Maintained by Christopher Fennell |