Eddie and Mary Love have been honored by the Harpers Ferry–Bolivar Historic Town Foundation for their exemplary rehabilitation of 970 Washington Street in Harpers Ferry, now home to the Appalachian Snail Market and Café.
Their work transformed the prominent structure at the town’s entrance by reimagining it as three distinct storefronts rather than a single oversized façade. The Loves restored the original 1906 center section to its historic appearance, uncovering long‑hidden windows and refreshing the exterior with new paint. They then repaired and repainted the later additions on either side in complementary colors, creating a rhythm and scale more consistent with traditional storefronts in the historic district.
The Loves purchased the former Eackles Funeral Home building in 2024 with a vision for its potential as a community asset. “We love this town, and I believed that the building could be a huge asset for our residents,” Eddie said.
Before their purchase, the building had most recently housed an antique shop that closed during the 2020 COVID‑19 pandemic and had remained shuttered since. For decades, the exterior suffered from neglect—chipped paint, overgrown shrubbery, and two poorly integrated additions from the 1950s and 1970s that differed in materials, setbacks, and design. Porch awnings and columns had been added in an attempt to unify the unusually wide structure, but the result remained visually discordant within the historic streetscape.
The center section, built in 1906, originally served as a meeting hall for the Sons of Jonadab, a temperance‑focused fraternal organization. The Eackles family rented the lower floor for casket storage before purchasing the building in 1941 and adding a chapel on the east end in 1950. The funeral home relocated to Halltown in 2005.
As part of the rehabilitation, the Loves updated the 1970s west‑side addition with new windows and a double door that opens onto a graveled outdoor seating area created from part of the former parking lot. Inside, the space now offers comfortable lounge and table seating where residents of Harpers Ferry and Bolivar can enjoy coffee, sandwiches, ice cream, and more. As both a market and café, the Appalachian Snail also provides convenient access to everyday grocery staples.
The Loves credit the Mills Group for its exterior façade drawings, which guided the rehabilitation, and building contractors Bart and Will Wheatley for their craftsmanship throughout the project.
Each year, the Harpers Ferry–Bolivar Historic Town Foundation presents its Excellence in Preservation Award to highlight outstanding exterior restoration and adaptive reuse of historic structures—key elements of community revitalization.
This year’s award will be presented at the Foundation’s annual meeting on April 21 at 6 p.m. at the Appalachian Snail, 970 Washington Street. The public is invited. Tanya Gossett, superintendent of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, will deliver the keynote address.
