Kennedy Farmhouse

In July 1859 abolitionist John Brown, a wanted man for his activities in the Kansas Territory, rented the home of recently deceased Dr. Kennedy under the alias "Isaac Smith" for $35 in gold. Brown, his two sons, and Lt. Jeremiah Anderson used the farm as a staging area to prepare for their intended October raid on the Harpers Ferry arsenal. As the summer progressed, members of the Provisional Army of the United States arrived one or two at a time until twenty-one of them were hidden in the attic loft. The old farmhouse where Brown and his followers spent three and a half months has been completely restored with the use of federal, state, and philanthropic funds.