Harpers Ferry Harpers Ferry Harpers Ferry Community Community Community NewsletterNewsletterNewsletter

May 2016 Volume 13 Issue 1

Inside this issue:

Calendar, Events, Herb Fair 2

B&O business tax & business

license, Arbor Day

3

Flip-Flop Fun! 4

Blast From the Past, New Water

Clerk 5

FY 2017 Budget Approved 6

Tree Committee News 7

Towns Inn Garden Club Tour 8

Harper Cemetery News 9

100th anniversary of the Nation-

al Park System; Gardening in old

Harpers Ferry

10

What: Harpers Ferry Source Water Protection Plan public workshop (SWPP)

When: Monday, May 9, 2016, 6:30 pm

Where: Harpers Ferry Town Hall, 1000 Washington St., Harpers Ferry (preceding the

Town Council Meeting)

At this workshop, there will be a presentation covering the goals and objectives of the Source Water

Protection Plan - this is our plan to protect the source water for the customers of the Harpers Ferry Water

Works. The public will be able to ask questions and make suggestions.

Community water systems, statewide, are required to document planning and preparedness efforts for the

possibility of contaminant releases that could impair public drinking water sources. The funding to

support these efforts was made available through the West Virginia Department of Health and Human

Services, Bureau for Public Health, by way of the Eastern Panhandle Regional Planning and

Development Council, Region 9 (RPDC), for the benefit of the Harpers Ferry water system and its

customers.

Advanced Land and Water, Inc., http://www.alwi.com an environmental consulting firm with extensive

source protection experience throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, was hired through a competitive

selection process to prepare a SWPP for the Harpers Ferry water system. Summaries are posted for

public use on the Region 9 (www.region9v.com) and Harpers Ferry (www.harpersferrywv.us) websites.

You may also provide your comments by:

--Submitting written comments by mail to: Region 9, Harpers Ferry

SWPP, 400 West Stephen Street, Suite 301, Martinsburg, WV

25401.

--Submitting written comments by e-mail to: info@region9wv.com

The Town’s official website has useful information including

important notices, ordinances, meeting minutes, official

applications, and events calendar. Visit us at

www.harpersferrywv.us

http://www.alwi.commailto:info@region9wv.comhttp://www.harpersferrywv.us/

2

The Woman's Club is having their Annual

Herb Fair and Bake Sale on Saturday, May 7

from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm at the Town gazebo.

There will be lots of herbs for sale as well as

veggie plants, flowers and baked goods. A

garden basket is being raffled and other sales

and information items are being offered.

Set the date! Saturday, May 7

Herb Fair

Town Calendar All meetings at Town Hall, unless noted otherwise.

Tuesday, May 3 Potomac Street Pre-Construction Meeting Town Hall 1:00 pm

Wednesday, May 4 Municipal Court, 7-9pm

Friday, May 6 Grants and Special Projects Workshop 3 pm

Saturday, May 7 Harpers Ferry Woman’s Club, HERB Sale, at Gazebo Park, 9-2

Monday, May 9 Public Workshop - Source Water Protection Plan, 6:30 pm

Monday, May 9 Harpers Ferry Town Council, 7-9pm

Wednesday, May 11 Parks & Recreation Commission meeting, 6-8pm

Monday, May 16 Trail & Town Alliance meeting, 5-7pm

Monday, May 16 Historic Landmarks Commission meeting, 7-9pm

Tuesday, May 17 Planning Commission meeting, 7-9pm

Wednesday, May 18 Water Commission meeting, 7-9pm

Thursday, May 19 HF Merchant Association meeting, 6-8pm

Wednesday, May 25 Harpers Ferry Foundation Board meeting, 5:30-7:30pm

Thursday, May 26 Tree Committee, 7 pm.

Monday, May 30 Memorial Day - Town Hall is closed in Observance

3

It’s that time again…..

B&O Taxes and Business Licenses are due.

If you conduct business in Harpers Ferry and you

have not yet applied for your fiscal year 2017

business license - it is still not too late. Please fill

out the Business License form and return it to the

Town Hall. If you conduct business in Harpers

Ferry you must have a valid business license. The

Town’s Ordinance Compliance Officer will verify

that each business is properly licensed.

Third quarter B&O taxes of fiscal year 2017 were

due by April 30, 2016. If you have earned income

within the town of Harpers Ferry, please fill out

the B&O form and return to the Town Hall. If

your business did not earn any income, please

return form marked $0.00.

If you have any questions regarding either form,

please don’t hesitate to give us a call at 304-535-

2206.

The Tree Committee celebrated

Arbor Day this past Saturday by

planting a Kousa dogwood in

front of the Children's Park on

Washington Street. Standing from

left to right: Tyler Mayhew, Mike

Kennedy (former committee

member), Marie Uehling, Christy

Huddle; front: Katy Trupo

representing the WV Division of

Forestry, and Gail Berrigan.

Did you know?

If you move to Harpers Ferry

or Bolivar and want to start

water service, you must apply

for new water service and new

sewer service, and pay a

deposit for each.

When you get ready to move out, you must fill

out a Termination Form, giving the effective

date, so that the Water Dept. can read your

meter, shut it off and send you a final bill.

The New Water Service, New Sewer Service

and Termination Forms are downloadable on

the town website under the Water Dept. tab.

They are also available at Town Office.

file:///C:/Users/User_2/Desktop/Business License Form.pdffile:///C:/Users/User_2/Desktop/B&O Form.pdf

4

Communicating with the Mayor or Council

Mayor Greg Vaughn hfmayor@frontier.com

Recorder Kevin Carden kevin.carden@harpersferrywv.us

Council Betsy Bainbridge betsybainbridge@yahoo.com

Members Jerry Hutton jerwar@frontiernet.net

Hardy Johnson hsjohnsonjr@yahoo.com

Charlotte Thompson charlotte.thompson@harpersferrywv.us

Helen “Hap” Becker hap.becker@harpersferrywv.us

Water Dept. Phone: 304-535-2206 acummings@harpersferrywv.us

Town Website Click here

Newsletter Information:

Editor / Layout: Laurel Drake

lgdrake77@hotmail.com

Next deadline:

Friday, May 27, 2015

Email to be added to the

notification list.

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy

and the towns of Harpers Ferry and Bolivar were hosts on Saturday April 16 and Sunday April 17 to many

visitors and hikers with a “Flip Flop Festival Celebration.”

An increasing number of Appalachian Trail hikers start their epic 2,000-mile journey in Harpers Ferry. These

trailblazers are helping to spread out hiker traffic as thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail becomes increasingly

popular. Flip-floppers also discover benefits the new tradition offers, not the least of which is beginning their

journeys in the spectacularly beautiful town of Harpers Ferry. More than 40 “flip-floppers” from around the

country and one from Germany headed north to Maine during the weekend. Look for some of them to return

to Harpers Ferry in August or September to continue the 2nd half of the journey south to Georgia.

The festival also celebrated Harpers Ferry as a scenic and historic destination for day-trippers, day-hikers,

section-hikers, and tourists from around the world.

A variety of activities made this event fun for hikers of all levels. Food, music, more than 15 vendors

including outfitters, games, and kids' activities were held throughout the day on Saturday on the

property of the historic Odd Fellows Lodge and Mather lawn. Musicians played, hiking workshops were held

and exhibitors gave out great advice for how to hike responsibly. A film about A.T. pioneer “Grandma

Gatewood” was shown to a full house at The Barn in Bolivar.

On Sunday, hikers and members of the community enjoyed a pancake breakfast hosted by the Odd Fellows

and BSA Troop 421 at the Odd Fellows Lodge. Visitors could choose between a guided history hike led by

Harpers Ferry NHP ranger David Fox and a more rugged hike to Weverton Cliffs on the A.T.

Second Annual

Flip-Flop Festival! - contributed by Stephanie Rockenbaugh and Laurie Potteiger

http://www.harpersferrywv.us/http://www.appalachiantrail.org/images/default-source/facilities/flip-flop-kick-off-at-point-2015.jpg?sfvrsn=0

5

Blast from the Past Odds and ends from 125 years of Council minutes

(with original spellings)

Curated by Dan Riss

16 feb 1893 "Moved…that a Committee be apointed to devise Some means for Supplying the Town

with water." also...

"Moved… that we issue proposals for an electric light plant for this Town."

12 mar 1896 "Ordered that Mr J F Cassell look after all the pumps in the town & keep them in good

repair."

7 nov 1905 Harpers Ferry Electric Light and Power Company granted a 30 yr franchise to provide

power to the town.

12 july 1971 "Mayor Nash reported that he went to Washington, D. C. to see Frank Turner, Federal

Road Commission, who assured him that the bypass of Route 340 at Aldstat's Hill has been resolved

and that there are no obstacles in the way of [extending] the four way divided highway to the top of the

hill."

Welcome to our new Water Department Clerk, Angela Cummings. Angie is a Florida native who moved to West Virginia by accident. She explains that she and her husband, a native of

Morgantown, were living in Maryland when he pleaded with her to

look for houses in the area.

“As we drove across the Potomac River and then the Shenandoah,”

she explains, “I thought to myself, ‘Oh, this is the most beautiful

place I’ve ever seen.’” Now, years later, Angie says that “This is

the best move we’ve ever made. The people here are wonderful.”

Angie has a bachelor’s degree in nutrition from Georgia State

University and a second bachelor’s degree, with concentrations in

journalism and communications, from the Regents program at

Shepherd University. She has been employed by the town as clerk for the Harpers Ferry Water Works

since the end of February. She loves working in such a small community and looks forward to getting to

know the communities of Harpers Ferry and Bolivar.

How to pay your water and sewer bill:

Monday- Friday 8-12: The window at the Police Office at Town Hall will be open.

Other times: Call 304-535-2206 Ext. 3 to make an appointment to see the Water Clerk.

7 days a week: Leave payment with stubs in the slotted box on the Police Dept. door or the

Town Hall door at the east end of the Town Hall.

Mail your payment: HF Water Works, PO Box 217, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425

6

FY2017 Budget Approved Betsy Bainbridge, Chair

Budget Subcommittee of the Town Council

On March 26th, the Town Council approved the FY2017 (July 2016-June 2017) budget for the

Corporation of Harpers Ferry. The $1 million budget anticipates $45,000 less in income next year after a

drop of about $300,000 from FY15 to FY16. The decrease in income of approximately $345,000 (about

26% of the budget) over two years can be attributed to Bolivar’s decision to stop paying for police

services, less income from gaming proceeds, and decreasing B&O tax caused by real and anticipated

disruptions from the fire in Lower Town and construction on Potomac Street.

In the FY2017 budget Council has tried to balance loss in income with an increase in the Room

Occupancy tax rate, instituting a one percent municipal sales tax, and increasing the property tax rate by

3%. Residents and visitors alike will bear the burden of these increases. Without them our budget would

have been smaller and services would have been severely impacted. Short of attracting the rebuild of the

Hilltop Hotel and new businesses while finding grants to support needed infrastructure and services,

there is little else the Town can do.

Jefferson County decided this year to begin weaning itself from the gaming proceeds over the next four

years by decreasing the amount it will use in its operational budget and diverting it to its Capital

Improvement fund. This is a wise move as we can expect less and less gaming income for the County

and municipalities as states around us institute and improve their gaming options. Next year Harpers

Ferry should consider doing the same thing, making it even more important to attracting the rebuild of

the Hilltop Hotel, new businesses, and grants.

Under Home Rule authority granted by the state of West Virginia,

Harpers Ferry will begin collecting a 1% municipal sales tax

effective July 1, 2016.

Since Harpers Ferry is a popular tourist destination, a substantial

portion of the revenue gained will be paid by tourists with little

impact on permanent residents. Additional information for this 1%

tax will be provided to all businesses holding a Harpers Ferry

business license.

7

Tree Committee at Work

One of the duties of the town's Tree Committee is to

oversee the planting and care of the street trees. These

are the trees located within the street right-of-way. It is

not always obvious where the right-of-way line is.

One clue is to locate the power poles and telephone

poles since these are also placed within the right-of-

way.

Late last fall, the Tree Committee planted several

trees. On Arbor Day - celebrated here on April 30, the

Tree Committee will be replacing a dying dogwood in

front of the Children's Park in the 800 block of

Washington Street. The WV Division of Forestry

provides a tree to the town for this occasion.

Harpers Ferry has been a Tree City USA for 7 years.

There are several requirements a town must meet in

order to be designated a Tree City USA, but once

obtained, there are lots of benefits. One is the free tree

for Arbor Day. An even bigger benefit is being able to

apply for matching tree maintenance funds from the

WV Division of Forestry.

The Tree Committee has been participating in this program for several years. Many trees way past their

prime have been removed, likely reducing the damage from big branches (or whole trees) coming down

in strong winds. The Tree Committee keeps a list of trees needing removal and annually updates the risk

level of each tree with the assistance of the WV Division of Forestry staff and the contracted arborist.

Also included in the maintenance grant work is the spraying of the many crabapples and hawthorns.

These are subject to scab and rust, respectively, which can kill the tree over time. If you have one of these

on your property and it is not resistant to the diseases, it can reinfect all the others in the neighborhood.

Spraying must be done three times in the spring, a few weeks apart.

The matching portion of the tree maintenance grant includes the tree work done by the Tree Committee

members, our town maintenance guru David Cummings, and any other volunteers we can shanghai into

helping us on Arbor Day, Ivy Eradication Day, and the fall street tree plantings. Trees need maintenance

year round, including cleaning the basins of weeds and replacing mulch, corrective pruning, and

assessment for needed work that cannot be done by nonprofessionals.

Mike Kennedy and Ed Wheeless help out in last fall's

street tree planting.

8

A Point of Interest – right here in Harpers Ferry! Contributed by Stephanie Rockenbaugh

The beautiful and historic Town’s Inn and Bistro 1840 was a “Point of Interest”, and featured as

part of the 61st Annual House and Garden Tour during the weekend of April 23-24. River Riders

generously provided free shuttles from the Jefferson County Convention and Visitor Bureau to the

Lower Town so that Tour participants could visit Lower Town.

Innkeeper, Karan Townsend, her family, and employees have just completed an extensive

renovation to the two buildings that were both built in 1840 and served as private residences until

about 1980.

The Town’s Inn was the talk of our town just a short time ago when famed Chef and TV reality

star, Gordon Ramsay, performed an instant makeover that included drastic changes to the Inn and

restaurant. An episode of Hotel Hell will air on June 7 and June 14 showing the visit to Harpers

Ferry and the Town’s Inn by Chef Ramsay and his FOX crew.

For more information about the Inn, visit www.Bistro1840.com and www.TheTownsInn.com.

Members of the Woman’s Club of Harpers Ferry

were on hand during the Tour weekend to help

guide patrons and visitors through the rustic

buildings.

Town’s Inn and Bistro 1840 on High Street

in Lower Town Harpers Ferry

http://www.Bistro1840.comhttp://www.TheTownsInn.com

9

Harper Cemetery undergoing new Changes

Great things happen everyday but it's not often a happy

occasion when they happen in a cemetery. However,

when it comes to doing wonderful things in our

beautiful little historic town of Harpers Ferry,

improvements are always a plus.

Through their energy and recently acquired new

knowledge, Hardwick Johnson, Lynn Vaughn and

Greg Vaughn spent Saturday, April 23, putting to use

new skills learned to reset tilting, sunken and fallen

tombstones in the very historic Harper Cemetery. The

trio had recently attended a workshop in Middleway's

historic cemetery where the care, maintenance and

techniques employed to repair tombstones were taught.

In the early 1800's, Robert Harper, whom Harpers Ferry is named for, set aside four acres of land on the

top of the Town hill explicitly for the burial of Town folk. His family plot is clearly marked in the

cemetery where he too is buried. The then elected Town officials established a Board of Trustees to

operate the cemetery which maintains the cemetery to this day. Through investment of perpetual fund

care through the years , the Board is able to keep the cemetery mowed during the growing season and

handle small needs such as removal of fallen limbs.

The Town of Harpers Ferry has recently donated funds to have the grand entry arch repainted and plans

are underway to establish a cremains burial area. Many residents have requested plots in the cemetery

and research is being undertaken on ways to make additional space available. There are currently two

sections to the cemetery--a very old section where early settlers of the town are buried and a newer

section where more recent residents are buried. A plot of undeveloped land remains which is going to be

studied for rock formation and feasibility of further cremains burials.

The current administrators of the cemetery all have family buried at Harper and seek ways to ensure its

upkeep. Mrs. Anne Newcomer Dungan, a descendent of the Brackett Family, developer of Storer

College, is the current President of the Board of Trustees, along with her husband Gary Dungan and

other members Agatha "Pete" Murphy, Lisa Franzen, John Paul Haefer, Shirley Caniford, Jean Hale,

Lynn Vaughn, and Hardwick Johnson. Through donations, interest of volunteers, and hard work, the

cemetery continues to remain a critical and important part of the history of Harpers Ferry with ongoing

development.

10

National Parks Celebrate their 100th Anniversary

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park is proud to be

one of over 400 units of the National Park System

preserving decades of American history and stunning

landscapes. At the confluence of the Potomac and

Shenandoah rivers, you encounter a compelling history

in our American narrative. George Washington chose

Harpers Ferry as the site for a US Armory and from

there early manufacturing innovations fueled the

Industrial Revolution. It was here that abolitionist John

Brown struck a blow against slavery that ignited a Civil

War, trapping the town between the North and the

South. In the wake of the war’s devastation, legendary

Civil Rights leaders met at Storer College and “claimed every single right that belongs to a freeborn

American.”

To showcase these inspiring sites and share these amazing stories, Harpers Ferry NHP, along with park

partners, will be offering an array of special events, workshops, hikes, tours, and educational and living

history programs in 2016. The park is promoting the national “Every Kid in a Park” program, and

adopting a centennial class at Harpers Ferry Middle School. In June, the park will host the unveiling of

an America the Beautiful Quarters® Program coin in partnership with the United States Mint.

May 14-15 Park Event:

Gardening in Antebellum Harpers Ferry

On Saturday and Sunday, May 14-15 from 11-4 pm,

experience a piece of life in antebellum Harpers Ferry. Before

the onset of the Industrial Revolution and the mass production

of processed foods, ordinary citizens often depended on a small

kitchen garden for sustenance, right in the heart of the town.

Visit the Park’s historic garden and discover the connections

between historic gardening methods and solutions for

confronting modern problem of climate change.

Living History staff and volunteers in the Park’s Lower Town

will view examples of nineteenth century organic produce.

You can purchase historic heirloom seeds and live plants from

the Bookshop to start your very own kitchen garden.