St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church | |
![]() (Photograph, Sept 2011) | |
Location | Harpers Ferry, West Virginia |
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Coordinates | 39°19′22″N77°43′53″W / 39.32273°N 77.73130°W |
Built | 1833 |
Architect | The architect of the major change to the church in 1896 was Thomas J. Collins, best known for his major work in the town of Staunton, VA. |
Architectural style | Late Gothic Revival |
NRHP reference No. | 73001915 |
Added to NRHP | March 30, 1973 [1] |
St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia occupies a prominent location on the heights above Harpers Ferry. The original church was built in 1833 in a pseudo-Gothic style which it kept through the Civil War, being the only church in Harpers Ferry to escape destruction during the war. The church was extensively altered in 1896 in the then-popular Neo-Gothic style to produce the church seen today. The church commands a sweeping vista across the gorge of the Shenandoah River above its confluence with the Potomac River. The street along the side of the church building is part of the Appalachian Trail. A short trail leads from the church to Jefferson Rock. [2] St. Peter's Church is a mission church of St. James in Charles Town. Mass is offered at the historic church every Sunday at 9:30 a.m. [3]
The 1831 church was dedicated in 1833, to some extent resembling reduced St. Mary's Seminary Chapel in Baltimore, Maryland as an early Gothic Revival church. The 1896 remodeling by architects Thomas J. Collins and Son was extensive in scope, completely changing the church into a stone-clad Victorian Gothic structure, resembling the architects' St. Francis Roman Catholic Church in Staunton, Virginia. [4]
Irish immigrants settled in Harpers Ferry during the construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The majority of the Irish immigrants were Roman Catholics and attended mass at St. Peter's. [5]
The rebuilt church is an elaborately detailed Victorian Gothic structure. The exterior is finished in gray stone with red sandstone trim. The tall spire stands at the edge of the cliff overlooking the Shenandoah River. The interior is a single, bright room. Aisles are suggested by suspended vaulting with gilded pendants. The lancet windows are mainly furnished with colored glass rather than figurative representations. The sanctuary is marked by a polygonal apse. [4]
Harpers Ferry is a historic town in Jefferson County, West Virginia, in the lower Shenandoah Valley. The town's population was 269 at the 2020 United States census. Situated at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, where Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia meet, it is the easternmost town in West Virginia as well as its lowest point above sea level.
Jefferson County is located in the Shenandoah Valley in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. It is the easternmost county of the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 57,701. Its county seat is Charles Town. The county was founded in 1801, and today is part of the Washington metropolitan area.
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The Shenandoah Valley is a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia in the United States. The Valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, to the north by the Potomac River, to the south by the James River, and to the Southwest by the New River Valley. The cultural region covers a larger area that includes all of the Valley plus the Virginia Highlands to the west and the Roanoke Valley to the south. It is physiographically located within the Ridge and Valley Province and is a portion of the Great Appalachian Valley.
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Ephraim Francis Baldwin was an American architect, best known for his work for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and for the Roman Catholic Church.
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Harpers Ferry station is a railway station in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. It is served by the Amtrak Floridian intercity service as well as MARC Brunswick Line commuter service. The station is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Harpers Ferry Historic District. It has two side platforms serving the two tracks of the CSX Cumberland Subdivision. The station is not accessible.
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The B & O Railroad Potomac River Crossing is a 15-acre (6.1 ha) historic site where a set of railroad bridges, originally built by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, span the Potomac River between Sandy Hook, Maryland and Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 14, 1978, for its significance in commerce, engineering, industry, invention, and transportation.
The Harpers Ferry Historic District comprises about one hundred historic structures in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. The historic district includes the portions of the central town not included in Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, including large numbers of early 19th-century houses built by the United States Government for the workers at the Harpers Ferry Armory. Significant buildings and sites include the site of the Armory, the U.S Armory Potomac Canal, the Harpers Ferry Train Station, and Shenandoah Street, Potomac Street, and High or Washington Street. The National Historic Park essentially comprises the lower, flood-prone areas of the town, while the Historic District comprises the upper town.
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