The scenery at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, is perhaps the most picturesque
in America. The view given in the accompanying engraving is taken from
the Blue Ridge, from whence the tourist enjoys the finest prospect of
this delightful spot. Lofty as the summit is, and difficult as the
ascent proves to the uninitiated, the magnificence of the view from the
top of the ridge amply compensates the adventurer for his trouble.
Immediately beneath your feet are seen the Potomac and Shenandoah
enveloping the beautiful village of Harper’s Ferry in their folds, and
then joining, their waters flow on in silent beauty, until lost behind
the gorges of the mountains. Far away in the distance stretch a
succession of woody plains, diversified with farm-houses and villages,
and gradually growing more and more indistinct, until they fade away
into the summits of the Alleghanies. But we cannot do better than give
President Jefferson’s unrivalled description of this scene. “The
passage,” he says, “of the Potomac, through the Blue Ridge, is, perhaps,
one of the most stupendous scenes in nature. You stand on a very high
point of land; on your right comes up the Shenandoah, having ranged
along the foot of the mountains a hundred miles to seek a vent, on your
left approaches the Potomac, in quest of a passage also: in the moment
of their junction, they rush together against the mountain, rend it
asunder and pass off to the sea. The first glance of this scene harries
our senses into the opinion that the mountains were formed first, that
the rivers began to flow afterwards, that, in this place particularly
they have been dammed up by the Blue Ridge of mountains, and have formed
an ocean which filled the whole valley,—that continuing to rise, they
have at length broken over at this spot, and have torn the mountain down
from its summit to its base. The piles of rock on each hand, but
particularly on the Shenandoah—the evident marks of their disrupture
and avulsion from their beds by the most powerful agents of nature,
corroborate the impression. But the distant finishing which nature has
given to the picture, is of a very different character; it is a true
contrast to the foreground; it is as placid and delightful as that is
wild and tremendous,—for the mountain being cloven asunder, she
presents to your eye, through the cleft, a small closet of smooth blue
horizon, at an infinite distance in the plain country, inviting you, as
it were, from the riot and tumult roaring around, to pass through the
breach and participate in the calm below. Here the eye ultimately
composes itself, and that way, too, the road happens actually to lead.
You cross the Potomac just above its junction, pass along its side
through the base of the mountain for three miles, its terrible
precipices hanging over you, and, within about twenty miles, reach
Fredericktown and the fine country round that. This scene is worth a
voyage across the Atlantic.”
Enthusiastic as Jefferson is in this description, he does not exceed the
truth. Foreigners have borne ample testimony to the splendor of the
prospect from the top of the ridge at Harper’s Ferry, admitting that
there are few scenes in Europe which surpass it.
It is time to do justice to American scenery. Hundreds of our citizens
annually cross the Atlantic for the purpose of visiting the scenery of
Europe, under the mistaken supposition that their own country affords
nothing to compensate them for the trouble of a visit. This ignorance is
less general than formerly, but it still prevails to a considerable
extent. Yet no country affords finer or more magnificent scenery than
America. Go up the Hudson, travel along the banks of the Susquehanna,
cross the Alleghanies or ascend the Catskill, loiter over the fairy-like
waters of lake Horicon, and you will cease to believe that America
affords no scenery to reward the traveller. We say nothing of Niagara or
Trenton falls, or of the mountain scenery scattered all over the south.
We say nothing of the vast prairies of the west, of the boundless
melancholy expanse of the Mississippi, of the magnificent scenery on the
route to St. Anthony’s Falls. Let our people visit these before going
abroad. Let them learn to do justice to the country of their birth.
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