John Brown was obviously a maniac...or a martyr...or a counter-terrorist.

Ordinary people doing ordinary things; ordinary people doing extraordinary things; extraordinary people doing extraordinary things. All in the same time and place.

Was this an intentional theme of the interpretive tour at Harper's Ferry this past Saturday? Not sure. With-in this structure, however, there was room for context to tell a story of the mid-nineteenth century town of Harper's Ferry in which John Brown, the person and the idea, acting in ways that are both mystifying and understandable, steps in. This structure permitted space to include the socioeconomic workings of the town, the sheer confusion of the raid, the hanging of John Brown, and the the myriad of interpretations placed on Harper's Ferry since. And it allowed for the interpretation to be open ended - was John Brown right, wrong, neither, both? What about the actions of the whites? The free-blacks? The enslaved? History is an argument, a discussion. The interpretation at Harper’s Ferry reminded me how tantalizing those arguments can be.

Last Note: Special thanks to David Larsen, Training Manager for Interpretation & Education at Harper's Ferry National Park for the Saturday tour. I may not have talked, but I was completely engaged.