Relax and refresh in historic Harpers Ferry, W.Va.
If you haven’t been here this year, you will be amazed at the transformation in our garden. For six months from June to November of 2021, we engaged in a major renovation out there, and the results are extremely rewarding.
Here’s a reminder of what the garden looked like a couple of years ago — lush green and pretty, yes, but wait until you see what Christian did.
Just look at it now! Plenty of inviting space for relaxing, meditating, chatting — or even for partying!
Ever since we moved into this house, we’ve been trying to piece together the history of its original owners, William and Inez Saunders. As we’ve shared in past posts (here and here), the couple were both Storer College alumni and educators, and William was a distinguished member of the Storer faculty for four decades.
Since last writing about them, we have uncovered a good deal more information about William. Our first big leap forward came last June, when the grandson of Carrie Dennis visited for a night’s stay. Carrie’s husband was a plasterer who had worked on this house. They lived just across the street, and her grandson told us Carrie spent years longing to live in the big stone house.
She got her wish in 1962, when “The Prof” (as he was fondly known to the Dennis family) was in his nineties and finally ready to sell. Carrie, by then a widow, evidently moved in with much of Saunders’ furniture, books, and more still in place. More about that later…
The grandson remembers visiting here as a youth. He explained to us the closeness of the African American neighbors living on this block at the end of Fillmore Street in a predominantly white town – how they were all like family, related by blood or not.
The next stage of discovery came last fall, when we received an email from Bates College writer Jay Burns. He said he had written about William (with some minor help from our own blog posts). It turns out that after completing his preparatory years at Storer in 1895 William went north to Bates for his undergraduate degree. Saunders’ choice of Bates was likely influenced by Storer founder Nathan Cook Brackett and his wife Louise, who had both attended Bates . The college had graduated its first African American in 1874.
Not only was Saunders a scholar (serving as librarian of the literary society Eurosophia), he was quite the athlete. He competed in track & field (hammer and shot put) as well as in football. In his senior year Saunders became the star of a particularly important football match-up with rival Bowdoin College. Here’s an excerpt of Burns’ article, beginning with a quote from the student newspaper:
Continue reading “Our Latest William Saunders Discoveries”“Time and again the giant guard, Saunders, went into the line and always for a gain,” said the Student. “Saunders played like a fiend,” reported the [Lewiston Evening] Journal. “It always took two men to bring him down.” (Though not big by today’s standards, Saunders, at 5-foot-10 and 173 pounds, was among the tallest and heaviest Bates players.)
If you haven’t visited since 2018, you’ll notice on your next visit that Rockhaven just keeps getting better. Last year was a big year for property improvements here. We are always thinking about ways to provide a better experience for our guests AND in 2019 we needed to spruce up for the 400 visitors coming to inspect our place during April’s home and garden tour. Here are some of the most notable changes we made:
Christian started by digging out the dirt parking area in front of the property, installing TrueGrid permeable pavers and laying in lovely white gravel. He also moved the fence back a foot or so to increase space for head-in parking. Now, we can easily fit three cars in front and never have to worry about guests experiencing a muddy mess out there. Doesn’t it look nice?
December is here, and Rockhaven B&B is decked out to the max again this Christmas. We are in between house tours right now — last Sunday and again Sunday, December 15, from noon to 5 pm. The Olde Tyme Christmas Tour of Historic Inns includes a total of 7 inns and supports restoration of nearby Zion Baptist Church. Come on by if you can to see our entire first floor and our new tiny cabin out back. You can buy tickets here or purchase them in advance at https://bit.ly/2WTuoz1 .
In case you need some enticement, here’s a glimpse:
Living in this beautiful and spacious Harpers Ferry home built for William and Inez Saunders ca. 1927 is indeed a privilege. In researching the lives of this African-American couple, we have learned more broadly about the rich depth of black history connected with our town.
We can easily draw a direct line through that history from John Brown to the Civil War to Storer College to William and Inez – who came to Harpers Ferry for its unique educational opportunities. They both left after graduating to expand their horizons and then returned here to work, marry and live out the remainder of their lives among colleagues and friends.
This month, we share a broad overview of Harpers Ferry’s black history as we have learned it so far. We are not the first to write about this history, by any means, but we hope to make this fascinating story more accessible to our visitors, friends and social media followers. We also provide some sources for those who want to learn more.
Pre-American Revolution
The first black man arrived in Harpers Ferry in the mid-18th century as an enslaved person with the town’s founder, Robert Harper.
Pre-Civil War
By 1859, about ten percent of the town’s residents were black. Around 150 were enslaved and another 150 were free blacks (source: Journey Through Hallowed Ground site on African American Heritage. This website also describes briefly the town’s role in the arduous journey of enslaved people heading North or West seeking freedom. )
Continue reading “Learning about Black History in Harpers Ferry”It’s the “Most Wonderful Time of the Year” here at Rockhaven, meaning we are all decked out and ready for Christmas!
Over the first two weekends in December, hundreds of visitors will descend on our quaint historic village for the very special experience we call Olde Tyme Christmas. If you aren’t already planning to come, you might want to add it to your holiday calendar.
Tour of Inns and B&Bs
A new and exciting addition to the December schedule includes us! The first annual Tour of Historic Inns of Harpers Ferry and Bolivar will introduce ticket holders to six beautiful lodging establishment bedecked in their holiday finery. These inns are typically open only to paying guests, so here’s a great chance to peek inside and learn some fascinating history. Most will also offer light refreshments. Continue reading “Christmas in Harpers Ferry”
Harpers Ferry is a small town with fewer than 300 residents, and businesses in the Lower Town historic area are highly dependent on tourist traffic – all of which means that many businesses close by 5 or 6 pm (and are not open at all on Mondays), so nightlife is pretty limited within the Town limits.
If you aren’t exhausted by a day of hiking, biking, tubing or exploring our history and want to go out in the evening, here are the closest local options. A few are walkable; some are within a 6-mile drive. Continue reading “After Six O’Clock, Then What?”
We always enjoy hearing about what our guests are up to while they visit here in Harpers Ferry. In case you’re wondering what there is to do, here is a list of the five things we seem to hear from them most often:
While the history buffs obviously like perusing the National Park Service museums and reading interpretive signs, just about everyone agrees that Harpers Ferry is 360 degrees photogenic. Not only do you have a quaint 19th-century-shop-lined slope leading to John Brown’s Fort, but there’s the natural beauty presented by the confluence of two rivers cutting through the mountains and traversed by rusty train bridges. Shopping and food only enhance the experience. Learn more here. Continue reading “Our Guests’ 5 Favorite Things to Do While in Harpers Ferry”
UPDATE OCTOBER 2022: This story has been expanded and turned into a beautiful new book. You can order your copy from the Harpers Ferry Park Association Bookshop.
“… So now, students, it is necessary to make use of every moment that comes to us; for while the present is great and grand the future to which we are looking will be more great and grand if we have the determination to make it so.”
Knowing something of the times in which he wrote, we are amazed and inspired by the optimism of the young Black man who authored these words as he completed his education at Storer College in 1895. He was William Allen Saunders, age 25 at the time, who later became the original owner of our home. We are excited to share with you what we have learned about him and his wife.
Saunders was born on January 15, 1870, the son of Hezekiah and Louisa (Thompson) Saunders, who were almost certainly recently freed slaves. They lived near the historic town of Louisa, Virginia, along today’s U.S. Route 33. Judging from what we have learned of William’s life, they must have instilled in him a thirst for education along with an incredible capacity for hope.
Saunders arrived in Harpers Ferry to finish his secondary education at Storer in the early 1890s. Shaped by his time in this oasis from the harsh world of Jim Crow laws, he was brimming with confidence about his prospects in spring 1895. As a co-editor of the Storer Record, his writing clearly reflected the character and leadership promoted by the school. In his farewell editorial, he encouraged his fellow students, especially those who were worried that their “great hope of being rewarded” for their academic labors might not be realized due to the “present condition of affairs in the country”: Continue reading “Rockhaven’s First Owners”
We probably are no different from most other middle income couples who remarry in their empty-nester years. Christian and I both owned homes, and we both accumulated way too much stuff during our separate family-raising decades. Some of it is easy to part with, but a lot of our furniture and décor either comes with some kind of emotional attachment or cost us too much to just yard-sale it or give it away.
Thus, deciding to buy the house and move to Harpers Ferry was the easy part. The harder part has been merging Christian’s more traditional style (leaning modern) and my more vintage style (leaning cottage) into a single 1920s craftsman-style house.
Neither of us have ever lived in a home more than 40 years old, and a lot of our stuff in its current state doesn’t fit the the style of this place. Our challenge has been to repurpose – or reinvent – as much of it as possible. The attic guest suite has been our first achievement of this goal. Continue reading “Old Stuff, New Ways of Using It”