Harpers Ferry is compact and easily explored, and ringed with excellent trails. Town and trails are admirably set forth in A Walker’s Guide to Harpers Ferry , available in the town’s bookstore, where you can also get another useful booklet, John Brown’s Raid .

There is one hotel in Harpers Ferry, the big old Hilltop House, whose front windows have a thundering view (304-535-6321), and there are bed-and-breakfast places throughout the area; the West Virginia Office of Tourism (1-800-225-5982) can help with information on the closest places to stay. One bed-and-breakfast, the Gilbert House (304-725-0637), is a fine stone building from around 1760, extensively restored by its owners, who also tirelessly proselytize the little eighteenth-century village of Middleway, whose main street their house dominates.