Jefferson Rock is near
Harpers FerryHarpers Ferry is a historic town in Jefferson County, West Virginia. In many books the town is called "Harper's Ferry" with an apostrophe....
in
Harpers Ferry National Historical ParkHarpers Ferry National Historical Park is located at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers in and around Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. The park includes land in Jefferson County, West Virginia; Washington County, Maryland and Loudoun County, Virginia. The park is managed by the...
. It is several large masses of
shaleShale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable...
rock piled one upon the other that overlook the
Shenandoah RiverThe Shenandoah River is a tributary of the Potomac River, approximately 150 mi long, in the U.S. states of Virginia and West Virginia...
just prior to its confluence with the
Potomac RiverThe Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately 383 statute miles long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles . In terms of area, this makes the Potomac River the fourth largest river along the...
. The name of this landmark derives from
Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States , the principal author of the Declaration of Independence , and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of republicanism in the United States...
, who stood there on October 25, 1783. He found the view from the rock impressive and wrote that "this scene is worth a voyage across the Atlantic".
The uppermost slab of Jefferson Rock originally rested on a natural stone foundation so narrow that one was able to sway the rock back and forth with a gentle push.
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Jefferson Rock is near
Harpers FerryHarpers Ferry is a historic town in Jefferson County, West Virginia. In many books the town is called "Harper's Ferry" with an apostrophe....
in
Harpers Ferry National Historical ParkHarpers Ferry National Historical Park is located at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers in and around Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. The park includes land in Jefferson County, West Virginia; Washington County, Maryland and Loudoun County, Virginia. The park is managed by the...
. It is several large masses of
shaleShale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable...
rock piled one upon the other that overlook the
Shenandoah RiverThe Shenandoah River is a tributary of the Potomac River, approximately 150 mi long, in the U.S. states of Virginia and West Virginia...
just prior to its confluence with the
Potomac RiverThe Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately 383 statute miles long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles . In terms of area, this makes the Potomac River the fourth largest river along the...
. The name of this landmark derives from
Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States , the principal author of the Declaration of Independence , and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of republicanism in the United States...
, who stood there on October 25, 1783. He found the view from the rock impressive and wrote that "this scene is worth a voyage across the Atlantic".
The uppermost slab of Jefferson Rock originally rested on a natural stone foundation so narrow that one was able to sway the rock back and forth with a gentle push. Because this natural foundation had "dwindled to very unsafe dimensions by the action of the weather, and still more, by the devastations of tourists and curiosity-hunters," four stone pillars were placed under each corner of the uppermost slab sometime between 1855 and 1860.
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