Annual Membership in the Society.  $20.

With an annual membership each member will receive four issues of  The Guardian, the Society's newsletter; one copy of "The Magazine of the Jefferson County Historical Society," the Society's annual report; and admission to the annual Society picnic and the two membership meetings during which guest lectures on historic topics are presented.

Lifetime Membership in the Society.  $400.

An outstanding way to guarantee lifetime receipt of the Guardian and Magazine and all the other benefits of membership. Purchase now on-line or pay by mail in four annual installments of $100.

The Night I Freed John Brown
(Philomel Books, Penguin Group) - $15

This exciting new young adult novel for ages 12 and up, written by Harpers Ferry native John Cummings, centers on 13-year-old Josh Connors who, to free himself from his shy, sheltered life in the historic town, idolizes the fierce spirit of the controversial figure of John Brown. 

Kirkus Reviews says:  "Characterizations are sharp, the setting eerily evoked and the story satisfying.  A highly original meditation on how the past can haunt the present.”

The Boston Globe writes: “There are marvelous plot twists and surprises right to the very end…and his prose can be pure poetry." 
John Michael Cummings grew up in Harpers Ferry in the 1970s, in a little stone house across the street from the John Brown Wax Museum.  His family had no ties to the national park.  His father worked for the post office, and his mother was the town clerk. John Michael Cummings' short stories have appeared in more than seventy-five literary journals, including North American Review, The Kenyon Review, and The Iowa Review.  Twice he has been nominated for The Pushcart Prize. His short story “The Scratchboard Project" received an honorable mention in The Best American Short Stories 2007. Learn more about him at http://johnmichaelcummings.com/

Military Operations in Jefferson County Virginia.

Military Operations in Jefferson County Virginia (now West Virginia) is a seventy-three page paperback book describing an effort to commemorate the history of battles and skirmishes that occurred in Jefferson County during the Civil War. As stated in the introduction: "A movement was started in 1910 to erect markers at different points in the County of Jefferson, where skirmishes or battles took place. Through the liberality of the people of the county, aided by a large contributions from the Jefferson County Camp, No. 123 [of the then-named United Confederate Veterans; now Camp 199 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans] the money was raised and the markers, twenty-five in number, erected. It was also thought best to have a history of each skirmish or battle fought at or near the several markers, and for that purpose this booklet was gotten up, in order to perpetuate the memory of the gallant deeds of the officers and men engaged." The book includes a map showing the locations of the 25 markers placed along the County's by-ways: $15.

The West Virginia Encyclopedia

This book is a comprehensive compilation of  2200 articles by nearly 600 professionals in fields ranging from archeology, biography, history and literature, through folklore, culture, and the arts and sciences.  Compiled by Ken Sullivan, Executive Director of the West Virginia Humanities Council, it is available to all at a special JCHS price of only $45.

The Perfect Steel Trap

By Bob O'Connor, JCHS Board Member.  An interesting and informative new look at eye- witness accounts of John Brown Raid, Trial and Execution.

" Finalist in Historical Fiction in Best Book Awards 2006" This historical novel provides eye-witness accounts of the John Brown insurrection from famous people like Robert E. Lee, from John Brown’s family, and from ordinary citizens like Margarette Brown and Christine Fouke.

The information has been gathered by two of the raiders who escaped and live to tell about it -- Owen Brown, one of John Brown’s sons, and Osborne Anderson, a black man.


You will read about the preparations, the raid, the trials, the executions and the aftermath of the event.  You decide -- was John Brown a hero or a scoundrel?
($23 ---  FREE SHIPPING)

The Virginia Who Might Have Saved Lincoln

By Bob O'Connor, JCHS Board Member.  Learn where Lincoln’s heavily armed and reliable bodyguard, Ward Hill Lamon, was on April 14, 1865 when the president attended a play at Ford’s Theater in this interesting historical novel.

President Lincoln’s trusted friend, former law partner and heavily armed bodyguard, Ward Hill Lamon, a Summit Point, VA (now WV) native, is the subject of this new historical novel. Lamon snuck Lincoln into Washington prior to the Inauguration when detective Allan Pinkerton uncovered a plot to assassinate Lincoln when his train passed through Baltimore.

Lamon was in charge of the dedication of the national cemetery at Gettysburg on November 19, 1863. Many nights he slept on the floor outside the Lincoln bedroom in the White House to protect the president.

But he was not at Ford’s Theater on April 14, 1865 when the president was shot.
($16 -- FREE SHIPPING)

1852 Map of Jefferson County - Color

The map has been reconstructed using multiple plates from the Library of Congress. It is 35”x 46” and is printed on 36” 20 mil paper using archival ink.
Color: $50

1852 Map of Jefferson County - Black & White

The map has been reconstructed using multiple plates from the Library of Congress. It is 35”x 46” and is printed on 36” 20 mil paper using archival ink.
Black & White: $28

Reprint of S. Howell Brown 1883 Map of Jefferson County, West Virginia - Color.

Drawn by S. Howell Brown, a Jefferson County resident. Brown was a Confederate topographical engineer under Jedediah Hotchkiss and the county surveyor after the Civil War. The map has been reconstructed using multiple plates from the Library of Congress. It is 35”x 48.5” and is printed on 36” 20 mil paper using archival ink.
Color: $50

Reprint of S. Howell Brown 1883 Map of Jefferson County, West Virginia - Black & White.

Drawn by S. Howell Brown, a Jefferson County resident. Brown was a Confederate topographical engineer under Jedediah Hotchkiss and the county surveyor after the Civil War. The map has been reconstructed using multiple plates from the Library of Congress. It is 35”x 48.5” and is printed on 36” 20 mil paper using archival ink.
Black & White: $28