1) John Brown House/
American Heart Association Office
225 East King Street
Chambersburg, PA
Contact Franklin County Historical Society for a tour of John Brown exhibits at (717) 375-2345 or history@pa.net.
John Brown rented the second floor of this boarding house in June of 1859 where he developed a plan for his assault on Harpers Ferry. Nearby, Brown met abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Douglass attempted to dissuade Brown from conducting the raid, certain that it would end in failure.
2) John Brown Headquarters/
Kennedy Farm House
2406 Chestnut Grove Road
Sharpsburg, MD
Contact owners at captain@johnbrown.org to arrange a tour.
John Brown rented this property in July 1859 and lived here with his two sons. More than 20 of John Brown’s companions eventually arrived and lived in this house. At night, the men drilled and exercised outside to prepare for the raid.
3) John Brown’s Fort/
Harpers Ferry Armory Engine House
Shenandoah and Potomac streets
Harpers Ferry, WV
National Park Service programs and exhibits tell the story of John Brown’s raid. Contact www.nps.gov/hafe or 304-535-6029.
John Brown and his followers barricaded themselves and 9 hostages in this building on October 17, 1859 after capturing the local armory, arsenal and rifle factory and taking about 40 townspeople as hostages. On October 18, 1859, local militia and marines surrounded the armory, while Lieutenant J.E.B. Stewart approached the engine house and delivered a summons to “immediately deliver up their arms and release the prisoners.” Brown refused. Lieutenant Robert E. Lee’s troops eventually “dashed in a part of the door” and arrested the men.
4) Jefferson County Courthouse
100 E. Washington Street
Charles Town, WV
The courthouse is open to the public on weekdays.
John Brown was tried in this building beginning on October 25, 1859. Brown was found guilty of treason and sentenced to death by Judge Richard Parker.
5) Gibson-Todd House
515 S. Samuel Street
Charles Town, WV
An historical marker notes the spot where a gallows once stood to the north of where the house now stands.
On December 2, 1859, John Brown was brought here in a furniture wagon to be hanged, surrounded by over 1000 troops. Some saw Brown as a “miserable old traitor and murderer” others as “an angel of light.” Shortly before he was executed he said, “I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood.”
Washington County Free Library
Hagerstown, MD
For information, call (301) 739-3250
John Brown made several trips through Maryland with a wagon moving boxes of weapons. On June 30, 1859 Brown stayed at the Washington House hotel in Hagerstown, MD. The Maryland Room in the Washington County Free Library owns the hotel register signed by “I. Smith” (alias for John Brown), his sons, and several of Brown’s accomplices who stayed there.
The Jefferson County Museum
200 East Washington Street
Charles Town, WV
For information, call (304) 725-8628.
This museum owns John Brown’s copy of his Provisional Constitution, the wagon that conveyed him from prison to the gallows, and one of the pikes he planned to distribute to freed slaves.
Emmanuel Chapel
Mont Alto, PA
The chapel is owned by Penn State University. For information, call (717) 749-6000.
While living in Chambersburg in the summer of 1859, Brown attended church services here and taught a Sunday School class for African American children.
