Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. 

     -Norman Maclean 

Harpers Ferry rests at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers where the U.S. states of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia meet.  In this map, the Potomac River flows south, meeting with the Shenandoah River flowing north.  They join and continue eastward as the Potomac River, which flows through Washington, D.C. - only a few miles from Capitol Hill.

Thomas Jefferson, visited Harper's Ferry on October 25, 1783. His description of the view first appeared in the Notes on the State of Virginia, published in 1785:

"The passage of the Patowmac through the Blue Ridge is perhaps one of the most stupendous scenes in Nature. You stand on a very high point of land. On your right comes up the Shenandoah, having ranged along the foot of the mountain a hundred miles to seek a vent. On your left approaches the Patowmac in quest of a passage also. In the moment of their junction they rush together against the mountain, rend it asunder and pass off to the sea. The first glance of this scene hurries our senses into the opinion that this earth has been created in time, that the mountains were formed first, that the rivers began to flow afterwards, that in this place particularly they have been so dammed up by the Blue Ridge of mountains as to have formed an ocean which filled the whole valley; that, continuing to rise, they have at last broken over at this spot and have torn the mountain down from its summit to its base. The piles of rock on each hand, but particularly on the Shenandoah, the evident marks of their disruptions and avulsions from their beds by the most powerful agents in nature, corroborate the impression.

"But the distant finishing which nature has given the picture is of a very different character. It is a true contrast to the former. It is as placid and delightful as that is wild and tremendous. For the mountains being cloven asunder, she presents to your eye, through the cleft, a small catch of smooth blue horizon, at an infinite distance in that plain country, inviting you, as it were, from the riot and tumult roaring around to pass through the breach and participate in the calm below. Here the eye ultimately composes itself; and that way, too, the road happens actually to lead. You cross the Patowmac above the junction, pass along its side through the base of the mountain for three miles, the terrible precipice hanging in fragments over you, and within about 20 miles reach Frederictown and the fine country around that. This scene is worth a voyage across the Atlantic."

John Brown's Raid

Between October 16 and 18 in 1859, a white abolitionist named John Brown lead a raid on a federal arsenal located at Harpers Ferry in Virginia.  He was attempting to spark an armed slave revolt by seizing a United States Arsenal.  The raid was eventually defeated by a detachment of U.S. Marines led by Col. Robert E. Lee.

John Brown's Raid resulted in the death of almost every participant with one notable exception.  A German immigrant abolitionist named Andy Bopp was able to escape without serious injury.  In the middle of the night on October 17, he sneaked out of the armory and and rode an empty black powder barrel down the Potomac.  Because of the cold October weather, he floated downstream for only a short while before arriving on a small rock in the middle of the river.  There, he waited out the violent conclusion of the raid upstream, and then swam ashore.  He escaped with a severe case of hypothermia.

Originally conceived by four friends and colleagues from Washington, D.C. - The Founders - the initial effort was a declaration of independence from commercial tube rental companies that charged inexorable fees to rend a tube for a day and a shuttle ride.

The Founders envisioned a free Society in which they controlled their own destiny on the river.  Without the shackles of rental fees, regulations and shuttle time tables, they could take advantage of the bountiful river's current more regularly.  Of course, such freedom would come at a price - the price of self-reliance.

Eventually, word of their society spread as their reputations as river lords grew.  The legend of the CHTS spread among the halls of power in Washington, D.C.  It's existence has been discussed in major Capitol Hill news publications and the intrigue of membership has rivaled that of even the Freemasons.

Today, members of the Capitol Hill Tubing Society exercise power authority in the inner workings of the American government and beyond.  Members have begun satellite branches across the country.

But true to their roots, members can be found almost every weekend - back on the Andy Bopp Memorial Rock, where more than a century ago, it all began.