Lock 38 (Shepherdstown) Parking
Small lot off Canal Road, near Potomac Bridge and Lock 38, with towpath access.
Lock 38 (Shepherdstown) Restrooms
Lock 38 (Shepherdstown River Lock)
The Shepherdstown River Lock is one of only three river locks on the Canal. Built from gray limestone and meant to draw traffic from the Virginia side of the Potomac […]
Thomas Swearingen Ferry & James Rumsey Bridge
In 1755, the Virginia General Assembly recognized the need for a proper river crossing, and Thomas Swearingen was authorized to operate a ferry on the Potomac River between the Maryland […]
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 […]
Shepherdstown River Lock
The Shepherdstown River Lock is one of only three river locks on the Canal. Built from gray limestone and meant to draw traffic from the Virginia side of the Potomac […]