Harpers Ferry National Historical Park
A historic town on the eve of the Civil War, engraved with John Brown's Fort.
Harpers Ferry National Historical Park protects an old town located at the point where two rivers meet in the state of West Virginia. As a strategic location where three states nearly adjoin, important events in American history unfolded against this backdrop.
On the reverse of the coin is engraved a brick building called ‘John Brown’s Fort.’ Originally a fire-engine and guard house for the armory, this place came to be called by that name after it became the stage for events connected to John Brown, who advocated the abolition of slavery.
In that a single small brick building symbolizes the tension of an era leading to the conflict over slavery and the subsequent Civil War, this fort holds a special meaning in American history. Though a quiet building, within it lies a weighty question about freedom.
This historic place was designated as a nationally protected site on June 30, 1944, and today it is managed as a national historical park, where many people come to learn its story.
This coin from the ‘America the Beautiful’ series quietly conveys America’s painful growing pains, engraved into a single town and building.