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National Park Service Proposes To Raze Old Buildings At Harpers Ferry National Historical Park

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Published Date

September 8, 2023

The National Park Service is proposing to raze the Henkle farmhouse and four other structures at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in West Virginia/LOC

Five post-Civil War structures within Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in West Virginia that are in dilapidated condition would be razed under a proposal the National Park Service has opened to public comment.

The structures, located in a wooded area on Schoolhouse Ridge South about a mile south of Route 340 along Millville Road, are in a severe state of disrepair and pose a serious safety hazard to visitors and staff, according to the Park Service. Through this project, the park staff would remove the structures while leaving the foundations and any contributing cultural landscape features in place, including ornamental trees, shrubs and flowers. By removing these buildings, the existing landscape will more closely resemble the battlefield cultural landscape of the Battle of Harpers Ferry in 1862.  

Jacob “Furl” Henkle built his house and established Henkle Farm sometime after 1906, Park Service records show. The family then sold the property to the Standard Lime & Stone Company. The company likely built the dairy barn, milk house, silo, and shed/corn crib after 1920. The Standard Lime & Stone Company abandoned the farm in the 1950s, and it has since sat vacant and unused. 

Comments on the proposal are being taken through September 22. You can learn more about the project and leave your comments at this website.

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Comments

Submitted by Mark R. on September 12, 2023 - 2:34pm.

If we are going to "Preserve the Battlefield" then we need to dig out all the dirt that was dug off the school house ridge battlefield and used to build the rout 340 ramp up Alstadts Hill. Then put it all back on the battlefield where it came from. The Park seems to forget that this happened.


Submitted by Bob Apfel on September 12, 2023 - 3:03pm.

Agreed. These buildings did not exist at the time of the civil war and have no relevance whatsoever to the historical mission of preserving the structures then existing in order to capture the physical reality of the place as it existed at that time. Because they are in a dilapidated state presenting safety concern, this is an opportunity to restore the place more accurately to what had existed at that critical time in our history.


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