A Pipe Organ in a National Park

by Gary D. Penkala

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park is located at the intersection of three states: West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia. The park is bounded by the Shenandoah River on the south as it meets the Potomac River on the north, which flows on to Washington DC and the Chesapeake Bay. Harpers Ferry is historically significant as the site of John Brown's raid on its Armory in 1859 in an effort to start a slave rebellion. Brown was tried at the Jefferson County seat of Charles Town, convicted and hanged there on December 2, 1859. The town of Harpers Ferry changed hands at least eight times during the CIvil War (1861-1865). Because of its key strategic location, five battles occurred there. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson (for whom the county and the national park's outlook rock are named) and George's brother, Charles Washington (for whom Charles Town is named) all visited and/or purchased land in the area.

On the promentory directly at the confluence of the two rivers sits the Chapel of Saint Peter, owned by the Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charlestown. The current chapel is a renovation of the second Catholic church in Harpers Ferry. The first, built lower on the banks of the Shenandoah River, was unfortunately washed away in a flood before ever a Mass could be celebrated there. Planners decided to relocate, choosing an appropriate "rock" on which to build Saint Peter's Church. The first version of the current chapel, in Irish Gothic style, was dedicated on May 5, 1833, and was the only Harpers Ferry church to escape destruction during the Civil War, due in part by the pastor, Fr. Michael Costello's raising a Union Jack over the church to dissuade Confederate artillery attacks. Saint Peter Chapel is one of two buildings in the area assigned to the National Register of Historic Places. In 1896 the chapel was substantially renovated, bringing it to look much as it does today, with a larger footprint and a beautiful stone bell tower on the southeast corner of the facade. When the parish itself was closed in 1999 and ceded as a mission of Saint James Church in Charles Town, further renovations and beautifications were undertaken. Today a weekly Mass is celebrated each Sunday at 9:30 am, as well as on Holy Days and special solemnities like Christmas Eve.

An early pipe organ was installed in 1882 — little to nothing is known of this instrument. Prior to the parish's merger with Saint James, a new organ was installed in 1983: M.P. Möller Opus 11650. Saint Peter's organist, Pierre Dostert, worked with the Lewis & Hitchcock firm to complete the installation. A dedicatory recital was presented by Alvin Lunde, founder and music director of the Washington (DC) Chamber Orchestra. His schooling was at Saint Olaf College and Yale University, and during his Fulbright Scholarship years he studied with notables Nadia Boulanger and Karl Richter. The program opened with J.S. Bach's Prelude and Fugue in c minor / BWV546 and closed with his famous Toccata and Fugue in d minor. Between, there were short movements by Clerambault, Couperin, Handel, Dandrieu and D'Aquin, as well as the Mendelssohn Sonata No.6 in d minor.

The 1983 Möller instrument is a small unit organ (called an Artiste by the company). It has eight ranks of pipes as follows:

• Principal 73 pipes [lower octave from Rohrflote]
• Mixture II 122 pipes
• Rohrflote 85 pipes
• Gemshorn 85 pipes
• Gemshorn Celeste 49 pipes
• Bourdon 12 pipes [remainder from Rohrflote]
• Trumpet 61 pipes

These ranks are unified (assigned at different pitch levels) to produce this stop list:

GREAT

Principal 8'

Rohrflote 8'

Gemshorn 8'

Octave 4'

Rohrflote 4'

Super Octave 2'

Mixture II

SWELL

Rohrflote 8'

Gemshorn 8'

Genshorn Celeste 8'

Rohrflote 4'

Gemshorn 4'

Rohrflote 2'

Larigot 1-1/3'

Sifflote 1'

Trumpet 8'

PEDAL

Bourdun 16'

Rohrflote 8'

Rohrflote 4'

Principal 4'

There are manual to pedal 8' couplers and a Swell to Great 8' coupler. The console has stop tabs and no combination pistons (or even a cancel piston). A Swell pedal exists, affecting all ranks but the Principal and Mixture; there is a crescendo pedal.

Having retired from my position as Pastoral Associate for Liturgy and Music at Saint James Church (Charles Town), I am now playing this organ for the Sunday Masses at 9:30 am. Jacob Perkowski serves as Music Director at the chapel, and together we manage a program that offers a variety of musical personnel (solos, duets, trios, quartets, chant scholas) for weekly Masses.

Because of the limited features of the Möller instrument (having come from a four-manual Allen Renaissance with 136 ranks), repertoire needs to be carefully chosen. Here are some pieces that have worked well:

• Modal Prelude – Ernest Bloch
• God of Grace – arr. Paul Manz
• Adagio for Strings – Samuel Barber
• Toccata sexta – Georg Muffat
• Præludium und Fuge in f – Dieterich Buxtehude
• Passacaglia in d – Dieterich Buxtehude
• Præludium in C / BWV 545 – J.S. Bach
• Allegretto – Louis Vierne
• Fanfare – Jacques Lemmens

Because there is a lack of solo stops, adding an instrument (trumpet) gives variety:

• Prayer of Saint Gregory – Alan Hovhaness
• Trumpet Sonata – Paul Hindemith

Jacob and I have even played four-hand, four feet organ duets:

• Fugue in E-flat / Saint Anne – J.S. Bach
• Symphony gothique: Andante sostenuto – Charles-Marie Widor

Although it's purely conjecture on my part, I'm pretty certain that the little unit Möller instrument at the Historic Chapel of Saint Peter in Harpers Ferrry is the only pipe organ located within a U.S. National Park (Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, notwithstanding). I'm proud to be able to play it. While its scope may be limited at the moment, there are hopeful dreams of expanding the instrument and dividing the chest into two, facing each other on the sides of the loft, thus exposing the beautiful east stained glass window over the front doors.

Article written 24 October 2025