These weathered ruins are all that remain of St. John's Episcopal Church, one of Harpers Ferry's five earliest churches. Built in 1852 with money provided by church fairs, St. John's served as a hospital and barracks during the Civil War and suffered considerable damage. It was rebuilt afterward, but was abandoned in 1895 when a new Episcopal church was built in the upper town.

Best to view in "Original" because other versions resized by Pbase are decidedly unsharp.

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Due to its strategic location at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, hosted the first ferry and then the first railroad bridge across the Potomac and served as the only rail link between the Northern and Southern states during the Civil War. It was also the site of the famous raid by abolitionist John Brown on the town’s arsenal in 1859 in the hope of starting a slave revolt across the South, which was put down by then-Lt. Col. Robert E. Lee. Brown was subsequently tried and hanged for treason.

Only church to survive the Civil War, posted earlier: