"O' Be Joyfull" Historical Tours & Entertainment in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
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- Business name: "O' Be Joyfull" Historical Tours & Entertainment
- Address:
- 175 High Street
P.O. Box 1148
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia 25425 - Phone number: 732-801-0381
- Map:
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- Email address:
- Category: Arts & Entertainment
- Description:
- "O' Be JoyFull" Historical Tours & Entertainment, offers walking tours of the towns of Harpers Ferry, WV, and Getttysburg, PA, as well as unique Historical Song & Story Concert Shows. Rick Garland, Historian, Licensed Tour Guide, Vocalist and Piano Player is the owner/operator of "O' Be JoyFull," which has been located in The Towns Inn building, at 175 High Street, Harpers Ferry. 25425, 732-801-0381, www.obejoyfull.com, since June 1st, 2008. During a walking tour of Harpers Ferry, WV, Rick presents a historical summary of one of America's most significant historical small towns, while pointing out the town's most interesting and popular attractions of "The Ferry." Rick's personalized tour covers approximately a dozen city blocks and visits Harpers Ferry's most important historical sites, including the only remaining house built by the town's founder, Robert Harper, Jefferson's Rock, the ruins of St. John's Episcopal Church, St. Peter's Catholic Church, the Wager House, the Marmmion Tennent House, the National Army site, John Brown's Fort, the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, while walking through the historic 1860 village of Harpers Ferry, also known as "Lower Town." Tours are customized to accomodate both walking abilities and personal interests and range in time from an introductory tour of just 45 minutes, to a much more detailed tour of 1 & 1/2 hours, and for those "just can't get enough" history buffs, as well as those who have just fallen in love with this extrodinary and wonderful town, an expanded tour of over 2 hours is also available. While telling of the personal, and sometimes humorous stories of the real people who lived here, Rick talks about the numerous aspects of The Ferry's history, including The Ferry's founding and early history, the visits of Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, the town's industrial history and the establishment of America's second national armory which leads to the revolutionizing of manufactoring methods throughout the entire world, the outfitting of the Lewis & Clark expedition, including the very first construction of a collapsible boat, the infamous 1859 raid of abolitionist John Brown and its aftermath, its American Civil War history, including the battle fought in The Ferry during the Antietam Campaign, in September, 1862 by Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, as well as the area's amazing flood history, the establishment of one of our country's first normal schools (Storer College) for the educatin and training of the newly freed slaves, and the beginning of the black civil rights movement in America, whose first meeting on U.S. soil is in Harpers Ferry. Rick's "O' Be JoyFull" walking tour of Gettysburg, PA, takes you around approximately a dozen blocks of down town Gettysburg, reviewing the founding and growth of the town into the very modern city of 2400 people, which becomes the site of the only American Civil War battle fought north of the Mason Dixon Line. The tour tells the stories of Gettysburg and it's citizens as they witnessed and experienced, first hand, an event of tremendous magnitude, an event that is considered today to be both the "High Tide," of the Confederate States of America and General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, as well as the turning point of American Civil War. Using first hand accounts left by the people who lived in Gettysburg during this incredible battle, Rick brings to life their personal experiences and their stories. The tour begins in front of Gettysburg's public parking garage at Race Horse Alley, is 2 hours long, and concludes one block away on Lincoln Square, at the location of the remarkably life-like statue of President Lincoln, where you hear about the equally incredible aftermath of a battle that produced approximately 53,00 casualites, and which left a town of 2,400 people with approximately 21,000 woundeed soldiers to be cared for, along with the story of President Lincoln's "Getysburg Address," and its enduring legacy. Last, but not least, Rick Garland, an interpretive artist, offers "O' Be JoyFull" Historical Song & Story Concerts at both his "O' Be JoyFull" Center, located in Harpers Ferry, WV, and at The Battlefield Bed & Breakfast, Gettysburg, PA. These Historicl Song & Story Concert Shows are a unique blend of history and music. Through the performance of the most popular songs, and accompaning historical stories of the 19th Century and America's Civil War era, you experience the period's number one entertainment pasttime, singing, accompanied by the period's number one musical instrument, the piano, while learning of America's culture, events and musical history, prior to our current "electronic age." Show themes include The Irish Influence on American Civil War Fighting and Singing, The Greatest Hits of the Blue & Gray, and General J.E.B. Stuart Sings Again, in which Rick Garland portrays the commander of General Robert E. Lee's Confederate Cavalry, who was also both a piano player and a singer, known to often sing while riding into battle, and who even had his own theme song. Historical Song & Story Concert Shows are approximately 1 & 1/4 hours in length. Rick Garland's "O' Be JoyFull" Center, at 175 High Street, Harpers Ferry, WV, is open for walking tours of Harpers Ferry, WV, Thursday through Sunday, 10 AM to 2 PM. Rick's "O' Be JoyFull" Historical Song & Story Concert Shows are held every Thursday through Saturday with a show at both 4:00 PM and 6:00 PM. Rick performs a Historical Concert & Story Concert Show on most every Wednesday morning, 8:00 AM, at The Battlefield Bed & Breakfast, Gettysburg, PA, after which his tour of Gettysburg, PA is conducted. Tours of both Harpers Ferry, WV and Gettysburg, PA, as well as Historical Concert Shows, are available on most Mondays & Tuesdays, or at other times and locations by appointment. Contact: Rick Garland, "O' Be JoyFull" Historical Tours & Entertainment, P.O. Box 1148, 175 High Street, Harpers Ferry, WV, 25425, 732-801-0381, www.obejoyfull.com.
- Photos:
- Last update: 2008-11-04
- Visits: 1779
