Patterson Creek
Here sit stone abutments on both sides of the river – the remnants of the Patterson Creek bridge that crossed the river to the town of Patterson Creek. The bridge […]
Doubleday Hill/River View Cemetery
The long hill along the raised bank of the canal is known as Battery Hill or Doubleday Hill. Legend has it that General Abner Doubleday occupied the hill and played […]
James Rumsey Monument and Park
James Rumsey Monument overlooks the Potomac, the very river on which Rumsey pioneered the first steamboat. Shepherdstonians began discussing a monument in the 1830s – undoubtedly to overshadow Robert Fulton, […]
James Rumsey Steamboat
What is a “canoe powered by a teakettle?” A steamboat, of course! The eccentric inventor James Rumsey shocked Shepherdstown during a December 3, 1787 demonstration when his boat – without […]
Potomac Bridge, Henry Kyd Douglas, and John Brown
The Potomac Bridge may not have held much historical significance save for the events that happened here on a rainy day in 1859. Henry Kyd Douglas grew up in a […]
Start of Towpath
From Mile 0, Rock Creek and the Rock Creek Park Trail, take a left toward Georgetown onto the modern version of the towpath, which starts as a brick path on […]