Harpers Ferry, population 286 at the 2010 census, is a historic town in Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States, in the lower Shenandoah Valley. It is situated at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, where the U.S. states of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia meet. It is the easternmost town in West Virginia and during the Civil War was the northernmost point of Confederate-controlled territory. It has been called, speaking of the Civil War, "the best strategic point in the whole South".
The town was formerly spelled Harper's Ferry with an apostrophe—in the 18th century, it was the site of a ferry service owned and operated by Robert Harper. The United States Board on Geographic Names, whose Domestic Name Committee is reluctant to include apostrophes in official place names, established the standard spelling of "Harpers Ferry" by 1891.
By far, the most important event in the town's history was John Brown's raid on the Harpers Ferry Armory in 1859.
Prior to the Civil War, Harpers Ferry was a manufacturing town, as well as a transportation hub.
The main economic activity in the town in the 20th and 21st centuries is tourism.