Military
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Maryland Heights, the highest ridge surrounding Harpers Ferry, was once a center of private industry and Civil War occupation. In the early 1800s, Antietam Iron Works, a major nail producer, burned the heights' timber for charcoal to fuel its furnace and forges, leaving traces of charcoal hearths and roads. From 1862 to 1865, earthworks, stone fortifications, and encampments turned the mountain into a fortress, and these former defenses and camps remain among the best preserved Civil War ruins in the United States. Nature has since reclaimed the heights, but its trails still pass weathered ruins overlooking Harpers Ferry and the meeting of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers.
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Maryland · United States
