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wo weeks ago I ventured to Harpers Ferry, W.Va. with ten other students as part of Boston University’s Alternative Spring Break Program. Haven’t heard of Harpers Ferry before? I’m not surprised. At its peak, Harpers Ferry consists of 300 people.
But even though you may never have heard of the place, you’ve surely heard of its principal character, John Brown, yes? If not, well, you should have picked up a history book. Nevertheless, I’ll give you a rundown:
Brown was a Civil War firecracker who took up the abolitionist cause. In 1859 he led a raid on Harpers Ferry (then home to a federal arsenal) with the hopes of arming the slaves in a bloody battle against the South. Turns out that that didn’t go so well. A number of Brown’s men were killed and Brown was captured, taken to court and hanged for treason.
Today there are number of museums dedicated to the man along with gift shop shelves brimming with John Brown dolls – c’mon, what kid doesn’t want to play with a stuffed, stern-faced replica of Brown? But enough with the history lesson; us ASBers were too busy making history of our own.
Let me start off by saying that our ASB group was made up entirely of girls. Yes, we go to a school where 60 percent of the student body is female. Yes, we were volunteering on behalf of the CSC. But hey, we were an environmental group. Did more guys really request to spend their break playing with puppies in NOLA than traversing the Appalachian trail? According to the ratio, yes.
Well, lucky for Harpers Ferry because it was in for quite a ride. Imagine: 11 girls running around in Dollar Store fairy wings. Harpers Ferry? Please. More like Harpers Fairies.
Somehow I’m not so sure that the Harpers Fairies were as amusing to everyone as they thought they were. Don’t get me wrong; the rangers got a kick out of us. We did great work for them, and they loved us for it. They really did. But somehow I wouldn’t say the same for the grumpy ladies who yelled at us for taking “their” parking spots or using their driveways as a turn-around. Also, my senses tell me that our lovely housemate, a recent college grad working for the park, wasn’t all that pleased with us girls invading his “home.” Sorry man.
The funny thing is though, despite taking on the fairy princess persona, we kicked ass. None of this pixie dust, Disney stuff. When we were asked to repair miles of worm fence or remove a forest of bamboo, we did.
I can’t imagine what the motorists thought as they drove by a bunch of girls in orange vests wielding sledgehammers and axes – other than the fact that we looked like reformed convicts. I know that if it were me driving by, I would have thought to myself, “Man, those girls are badass.”
At any rate, the other volunteer group got a kick out of us too. All week we were joined by a handful of kids from Canisius College – like Harpers Ferry, I had never heard of the place before. On multiple occasions the Canisius kids asked us whether BU was an all-girls school. Our reply: On first glance, one would assume the answer was yes.
Ah, but they meant well. It’s hard to stay mad at kids who stop in the middle of their shift to bring you crayon-shaped popsicles just as your entire crew is being eaten-alive by a thicket of bamboo. Thanks? But like I said, we know the rangers loved us. I would have given anything to see their faces when we radioed in that there was “a loose person on the field.” Our real message was “there’s a loose pony on the field,” but they mistook it as the former. God, how they must have thought that we were a bunch of silly college girls trying to pull one over of them.
Thankfully, the situation was resolved, our reputation restored. Freckles (yes, we named the pony) was returned to his or her (?) rightful owner, just in time too, because he/she was about to make a break across the highway. I guess what I’m trying to say is that for a week the Harpers Fairies brought a lot of color to this little town. I had great fun running around, fixing fences, hiking trails and dragging bamboo.
On our last day the rangers told us that they were thankful for our work and couldn’t have done it without us. What they really meant to say was that 11 loud, lovely, loving fairy godmothers invaded Harpers Ferry. Now that the week is come and gone, I’m certain that they miss us . . . but not as much as we miss them.
Meaghan Kilroy is a sophomore in the College of Communication and a weekly columnist for The Daily Free Press. She can be reached at kilroymeg@hotmail.com.
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