O’ Be JoyFull Historical Walking Tours

This is a serious tour. Neither the walking nor the historical content is for the craven! Your guide is an endless resource of knowledge about the area, and you will leave with stronger quads and more brain cells. My mom arranged for us to go on this tour, after having read positive reviews on another website. We didn’t really know what we had in store for us, but she stumbled onto a local treasure.
Once you park and (probably) hike your way toward the rendezvous point, you’ll head inside a church lounge where you can sit comfortably and get some background information. Your guide will be dressed in historical garb, and he may even break out into song at various points, between deep-​dive presentation of historical narrative.
Okay, so costume and singing aren’t usually my scene (and in fact, they sometimes make me cringe), but this expert is so totally in earnest that it was actually refreshing. How can you not respect someone with this level of knowledge and commitment? You really feel like you’re seeing the area through a historical lens.
Every sight you see is informed by the guide, which adds rich layers of context. I admit that I kind of felt weirdly sorry for the other area tourists who were roaming the place uninformed. Some of the rocks, rubble, ruins, trails, and geography you see played a role in American history that you might not recognize, and this awareness made so many of the local sights more enjoyable.
You do plenty of walking. Bring water, and wear comfortable shoes and clothing. You will also have breaks from the walking to reconvene. The tour was such an experience that we actually had ice cream with the other tour group members afterward to rehash and decompress.
The guide does a haunted tour that I haven’t tried, but which he describes as more lighthearted. I’d totally go back for that, and I’d bring any history nerd who visits the area to the O Be JoyFull tour in a heartbeat. Not the right setting for someone who wants a more consumer-​based or superficial visit to Harper’s Ferry, though. They can wait for you at the ice cream parlor!

I went on this tour 8÷20÷2015. I spent almost 4 hours with Rick but even with the heat and a constant mist and drizzle, the time seemed to fly. If you are looking for a politically correct tour; this is not it. Do the one from the National Park. Rick will share a lot of factual information and his opinions, which he bases on years of research. I totally agreed with some of the opinions he shared. Other bits of information, got me curious to learn more. Still others filled me with doubt. But all of his information, left me hungry for more. That, in my opinion is what a great tour does. It gives you information and sparks a desire in you to continue learning about it. So if you are not tolerant of views that contradict yours, don’t do this tour. Rick is bound to say something you will disagree with; whether it be religion, Abe Lincoln, the KKK’s origin, or something else. If you realize that there are many perspectives to historical events and you welcome this, you will love this tour. Pay attention though, because Rick asks you questions to keep you engaged. Dress for the weather and wear good walking shoes. The steps and roads are very slippery.
I am already looking forward to coming back and doing his ghost tour!

Rick was very knowledgeable and witty. He put a spin on every piece of history, so it got you thinking about both sides of the debates of the time. He went through all the history beginning with pre Revolution through to the Civil War. It was about 4 hours and definitely worth the $ 22. It was a very «un P.C.» tour, which was a welcome relief!

We went to Harper’s Ferry in the Spring 2013. I have been several times before — my BF’s first time. Not everything was open yet for the summer season, F.Y.I. which made Rick’s tour even more important to do to get the lay of the land. Caution: these are walking tours (up some stairs), on some uneven surfaces, and it can get COLD in the spring so bring a few layers. I learned new things and my BF learned tons. We are history fans and we took both the «haunted» tour — and the day historical tour. The haunted night tour was very interesting and involved a lot less walking. I could see how this would be also nice in the summer when it is very hot during the day. Rick is a great storyteller/​performer and the haunted tour is good for all ages. I have a 4 yr. old who might need some reassuring but my 10 yr. old would have been great.
The historical day tour was longer. There was a large extended family with kids in our group and they left right at the time limit. There were several adults who stayed longer to get more details from Rick, who was more than generous with his time. He is a good resource and storyteller,. He has a great depth of knowledge and brings enthusiasm to his job. Bring water.
Two thumbs up — could not have been better. Would recommend to any friends or family.

Last weekend we ran across his tour. Awesome, fun and historical

If you are in Harpers Ferry this is a tour you must take. Rick is a great story teller and is very familiar with his subject matter. It was very informative and great for the entire family (we had our 3 year old with us). He has many tour options and they are at amazing rates!

We went to Harper’s Ferry the Thursday before Easter and signed up for this tour. We’re never been on a ghost tour and thought it would be a fun way to keep the kid’s interested as they also learned some history. Our children are ages 5 and 8 and the tour was safe for them. Yes he talks about people dying or being killed; but this is all civil war stuff. If you haven’t explained this stuff to the kids, this might not be the tour for you.
The only point my youngest son was scared was when Rick told us about the red orb and we should run away from it. He was having trouble visualizing what the red orb was so I just explained to him that only people who took pictures could see the red orb and I wasn’t taking pictures so we were safe.
The stories Rick told were filled with history and he made them very interesting. The kids listened intently. I highly recommend taking this tour.

Even though my wife and I have visited Harper’s Ferry a number of times Rick (the man behind O’ Be Joyfull) provided lots of new information and context; we saw things we otherwise never would have known about. Rick’s a storyteller at heart; he’s very comfortable with his material and we found the tour quite engaging. One thing we liked was the fact that he dressed as a Confederate soldier, but didn’t act in that character which avoided the cheesiness that might otherwise result.
Though he advertises that his tours are 1:15 long, we had to cut him short at 2hrs due to other obligations we had that day. He indicated to us that 2+ hour tours are, in fact, the norm for him but that he advertises shorter tours so as not to scare folks away! I’d recommend that you budget plenty of time — it’s well worth it. His $ 10/​person fee is a pittance; Rick clearly does this out of his love for the town and history. We only had 4 people in our group but he gave us 5-​star service. At the end of the tour he even provided us all with bottles of water as we cooled down in his air-​conditioned office.