School House Ridge, Part II
In the Harpers Ferry Historical Park, US 340 bisects the park’s School House Ridge unit. I covered the northern half in an earlier post. The southern half is less developed, and certainly off the beaten path, but offers a few points of interest for the battlefield walker.
From the northern half parking lot off Bakerton Road (CR 27), the trail head of the southern half is reached by way of a crossing of the busy US 340. Bloomery Road is a continuation of (CR 27) and follows the valley between School House Ridge and Bolivar Heights, down to Millville, WV. The parking lot is roughly a half mile south of US 340.
And yes, there is a “one room visitor center” on site.
Two trails, to the northwest and south west split out from the trail head. The northwest trail offers a view of Bolivar Heights and the other Heights beyond, with a historical perspective. The interpretive marker at this point details the use of signal flags to coordinate General Jackson’s activities during the siege operations.
The southwest trail passes several post-Civil War ruins. Almost all are fenced off and appear near collapse. Queries with the park service has needed little background information regarding these structures. Continuing south, the trail drops down along Flowing Springs Run. A.P. Hill staged his division in this area prior to moving out to the Murphy Farm area on Bolivar Heights.
Outside of the park, further south on Bloomery Road at Millville is Keys Switch. The railroad here makes a turn around School House Ridge with branches to the south (Winchester) on a siding and west (Charlestown). The town was along A.P. Hill’s line of march. A Sons of Confederate Veterans obelisk at the switch marks the location of a skirmish on April 15, 1865 involving Col. Mosby’s Confederate Rangers and a detachment of Federals.
The markers for Schoolhouse Ridge both north and south sections are here: List Map. Overall the trails on the southern half of the ridge are easy walks, with only a few steep grades. I managed to take in Loudoun Heights and walk the southern trails as a “cool down.”
One additional note, School House Ridge was in the news recently regarding a nearby training facility for the US Customs and Border Protection Agency.
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As always I enjoy reading all your blog entries here (thanks for the “travel guides”)… I am planning on hiking the Schoolhouse Ridge trails this weekend if all goes well – just curious – were the trails reasonably well mowed when you there and was the place tick infested?
Keith, I found the paths well mowed. There were some difficult to follow portions of the northern section, as it passed through a cornfield and was poorly marked. I had no contact with any “partisan” elements during either hike.
At least one interpretive marker was unmounted at the time of my visit to the northern section. I’d appreciate any updates you might pass along.