Dear Historic Shepherdstown Members and Supporters,
We hope you have been having a good summer. It is hard to believe it is already the middle of August and schools across the county, including Shepherd University, will be starting again on Monday. Watch out for those school buses!
Historic Shepherdstown has two important events scheduled during the first full week of September, the annual meeting and September Speaker Series on Wednesday, Sept. 6, and the Fall Fundraiser on Saturday, Sept. 9.
Fall Fundraiser
Even though the Fall Fundraiser will be held after the annual meeting, I am going to mention it first because the deadline to RSVP is August 30.
This year the event will be held at the historic Shepherd Grist Mill on High Street in Shepherdstown. Parking will be available at the Shepherd University lot at the corner of High and Princess streets. There is no home football game that day.
Our hosts will be Sharon and Adam Thomas, the owners of the mill. They are hoping to run the 40-foot water wheel for a while at the beginning of the event, which is scheduled for 5 to 7 p.m. They have invited HSC guests to tour the lower level of their home, where the workings for the grist mill are located, as well as the first floor and back porch. You get a great view of Town Run from the back porch.
The event will be catered by MJ’s on German DeliCafe. We have selected a luau theme, and the menu will include pulled pork with Hawaiian rolls and slaw; Polynesian grilled chicken; Hawaiian style macaroni salad, citrus spinach salad, and pineapple upside down cake.
Make sure you bring along some cash or your checkbook. Once again, we will be offering a 50/50 raffle. We will be selling the new 2023 Historic Shepherdstown ornament, which features Christ Reform Church, and the 2021 ornament of the Shepherd Grist Mill. We also have discovered a cache of Diana Suttenfield prints and cards that she did for Friends of the Riverfront. She has given us permission to sell them. You won’t want to miss this opportunity.
We hope to see many of you there. And if you can’t make it, we would appreciate it if you would still make a donation to Historic Shepherdstown.
Annual meeting and September Speaker Series
Historic Shepherdstown Commission’s annual meeting and September Speaker Series will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 9, at the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education on the Shepherd University campus. The annual meeting will begin at 6:45 p.m., followed immediately by the speaker series talk.
At the annual meeting, HSC members will be voting on the nominations of three well-qualified people to join the board of Historic Shepherdstown, and three current members who have agreed to serve a second three-year term.
The nominees, in alphabetical order, are:
Greg Coble: A Shepherdstown resident since April 2022, Greg devoted most of his career to mission-based nonprofit organizations. He worked at the Washington-based National Trust for Historic Preservation, an organization focused on saving historic resources and communities, for 30 years, in a range of positions including finance, strategic planning, human resources, chief of staff, and program development. For 18 of those years, he served as senior vice president of business and finance. More recently, he worked at Hosteling International USA (HI USA) for nine years as senior vice president of finance and administration.
Greg began his career working for the West Virginia Governor’s Office of Economic & Community Development, and also worked at Blue Cross of California in Oakland for two years. A Charleston, WV native, he has a bachelor’s in journalism and master’s in public administration from West Virginia University. He has served on the boards of Bonnet House (the Fort Lauderdale, FL historic house museum), International Student House of Washington, D.C., and Historic Hotels of America. He joined the board of the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia in June 2023.
Mike Nickerson: Dr. Mike Nickerson holds a doctorate in molecular medicine from the George Washington University and conducted cancer genetics research for 30 years. He is the current president of the Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association. SBPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the site of the noted Civil War battle in Shepherdstown. His wife Dr. Rosemary Nickerson is a long- time board member of the Shepherdstown Library. The Nickersons have a farm off Trough Road.
Dave Pugh: David C. Pugh Jr. is a retired educator for Jefferson County Schools, having taught social studies at Jefferson High School from 1975-2006, and then mentoring new teachers for an additional five years. Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania and raised in Carlisle, he attended Shippensburg University earning a Bachelor of Science in secondary education and a Master of Science in social science. He and his wife Jean Anne have lived in the immediate Shepherdstown area for 47 years.
From 2006-2008, Dave served on the Shepherdstown Community Club board (formerly the Men’s Club) as vice-president and chair of the Morgan’s Grove Park Committee. In 2021, he completed his second three-year term on the board of Historic Shepherdstown Commission serving as chair of the program committee and chair of the membership committee. Finally, most recently, Dave served on the board of the American Conservation Film Festival during its successful live return to the Shepherdstown Opera House in March of this year.
The three current board members who have agreed to seek re-election to a second three-year term are Terry Fulton, John Kavaliunas, and Dianne Roman. Terry and Dianne are both members of the museum committee, and have devoted a significant amount of time during the past three years working on organizing the Historic Shepherdstown archives. John is the current chair of the Museum Committee and also serves on the executive committee for HSC. He received a West Virginia History Hero award this year.
Following the annual meeting, Dr. Benjamin Bankhurst will give a talk entitled Loyalist rising and conspiracy in the Potomac borderlands before Yorktown. Bankhurst is the Ray and Madeline Johnston Chair in American History and Associate Professor of History at Shepherd University. He completed his graduate study at King’s College London. His research focuses on migration to the Appalachian frontier in the colonial and revolutionary periods.
Before joining the History Department at Shepherd, he held teaching and research appointments at the London School of Economics; the Institute of Historical Research; and Queen Mary, University of London. His articles have appeared in journals include Eire/Ireland, The Pennsylvania Magazine for History and Biography, and the Journal of Irish and Scottish History, among others. The American Council for Irish Studies awarded his first book Ulster Presbyterians and the Scots Irish Diaspora, 1750-1764 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) the Donald Murphy Prize. Bankhurst co-edited a collection of essays alongside Nigel Aston entitled Negotiating Toleration, Protestant Dissent and the Hanoverian Succession (Oxford University Press, 2019).
Bankhurst is the co-director, alongside Dr. Kyle Roberts of the Congregational Library and Archives in Boston, of the Maryland Loyalism Project, a public archive and database documenting the experiences of Chesapeake loyalists in the era of the American Revolution.
Check out the Historic Shepherdstown website for coming events and digital exhibits
Not sure when the museum is open? Want to find out about the Adam Link desk or Craft clocks? Check the website of Historic Shepherdstown, Historic Shepherdstown , for museum hours, upcoming events, and much more. The Research tab lists several items including Digital Exhibits. Here you will find illustrations and information about:
- Artifacts, such as the Adam Link desk, the Baptismal font made by Samuel P. Humrickhouse of Shepherdstown, which HSC recently acquired from the former Christ Reformed Church, as well as several fine clocks made by Jacob Craft and John Woltz of Shepherdstown. The museum also has a collection of silver spoons made by John Woltz.
- Books, including the diary of C.M. Entler for 1852 and the logbook of Henry Bedinger, Continental Army private, store keeper, postmaster, and a member of the Virginia House of Delegates.
- Events, ranging from the War of 1812 and the Civil War to the Israeli/Syrian peace talks conducted in the Shepherdstown area in 2000.
- Landmarks, including McMurran Clock Tower, the Rumsey Monument, the James Rumsey Steamboat Museum, and the Shindler House.
- Maps, including the maps that are currently on display in the museum. They range from the 1612 – Map of Virginia by John Smith to the Lori Simmons, 2007 Explorer Map of Jefferson County. One of the more interesting maps is the 1861 Map of Virginia Showing the distribution of its Slave Population from the Census of 1860.
- People, including members of prominent Shepherdstown families as well as such individuals as the Rev. John Kehler, Mary Catherine Weltzheimer, Alexander R. Boteler, and the cabinetmaker/undertaker Thomas (“Tommy”) Hopkins. Hopkins, for example, insisted on measuring the corpses in his mortuary after an assistant used a corn stalk to measure a body and then allowed a horse to bite a piece off, resulting in a too short coffin.
So, when it is too hot to go outside, spend some time checking out our website and in particular the section on digital exhibits: Historic Shepherdstown digital-exhibits.
My term as the president of the Historic Shepherdstown Board of Directors ends on October 4, and Jerry Bock, the current vice president, will be nominated for president. It has been a pleasure working with everyone involved in the organization for the past six years, including members of the Board of Directors, past and present, volunteers, and the HSC administrator Teresa McLaughlin. I hope to see you at the annual meeting and the fall fundraiser so I can thank you, our members and supporters, as well.
Best,
Donna Bertazzoni
President, HSC Board of Directors
Shepherdstown’s BooFest and the Historic Shepherdstown Museum Ghost Tours
Halloween is coming and that means it’s time for Shepherdstown’s BooFest and the Historic Shepherdstown Museum Ghost Tours. Here, at the most haunted building in the most haunted town in America, you will hear about some of our most prominent spirits — the lady in white, the amorous Frenchman, Civil War soldiers, and the unlucky duelist. Don’t miss the Traveler’s Room that according to some, is the most haunted room in the building. This year, tours will be offered on Saturday, October 28, and Sunday, October 29, every half hour from 1:00 to 3:30 PM.
Halloween Tour and Investigation at the historic Entler Hotel
WHEN: 8 pm through 9:30 pm, October 21st and October 28th
ADMISSION: FREE, WITH DONATIONS APPRECIATED!
Speaker series, 2023 – Dr Benjamin Bankhurst, Loyalist rising and conspiracy in the Potomac borderlands before Yorktown
Historic Shepherdstown Commission’s September Speaker Series will be held on Wednesday, September 6, at the Erma Ora Byrd Auditorium on the Shepherd University campus. Dr. Benjamin Bankhurst of Shepherd University will be the featured speaker. His talk is entitled Loyalist rising and conspiracy in the Potomac borderlands before Yorktown.
Bankhurst is the Ray and Madeline Johnston Chair in American History and Associate Professor of History at Shepherd University. He completed his graduate studies at King’s College London. His research focuses on migration to the Appalachian frontier in the colonial and revolutionary periods. Bankhurst is the co-director, alongside Dr. Kyle Roberts of the Congregational Library and Archives in Boston, of the Maryland Loyalism Project, a public archive and database documenting the experiences of Chesapeake loyalists in the era of the American Revolution.
Historic Shepherdstown Speaker Series talk, September 2023, by Dr. Benjamin Bankhurst
Battle of Shepherdstown commemoration, September 16 and 17
September 17 is the 161st anniversary the Battle of Antietam and Tuesday and Wednesday, Sept. 19-20, mark the anniversary of the Battle of Shepherdstown, which was the final battle of Robert E. Lee’s 1862 Maryland campaign. Saturday and Sunday, September 16-17 the Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association will be setting up a table in front of the museum on German Street to give visitors an opportunity to view artifacts and learn facts about the Shepherdstown battle and its significance. Be sure to stop by to learn more about this important battle.
Shepherdstown Remembers Antietam, September 17, 2023
The bloodiest day in American military history took place on September 17, 1862, in Maryland just across the river from Shepherdstown.
To mark the Battle of Antietam‘s anniversary, on Sunday, September 17 at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., the Shepherdstown Opera House will host the first theater screening of “Shepherdstown Remembers Antietam“, an original film written and produced by local history researcher Jim Surkamp. The film describes the Battle’s impact through the eyes of Shepherdstown-area residents of the time, many of whom mobilized to aid wounded and hungry soldiers.
This event is co-sponsored by the Shepherdstown Opera House, the Historic Shepherdstown & Museum, the George Tyler Moore Center at Shepherd University and the Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association.
Check OperaHouseLive.com for tickets for the 5 p.m. show at the Shepherdstown Opera House, 131 West German Street, Shepherdstown.
Historic Shepherdstown Annual Meeting Minutes – September 7, 2022
Minutes of annual meeting, September 7, 2022
Historic Shepherdstown Newsletter August 18, 2023
Dear Historic Shepherdstown Members and Supporters,
We hope you have been having a good summer. It is hard to believe it is already the middle of August and schools across the county, including Shepherd University, will be starting again on Monday. Watch out for those school buses!
Historic Shepherdstown has two important events scheduled during the first full week of September, the annual meeting and September Speaker Series on Wednesday, Sept. 6, and the Fall Fundraiser on Saturday, Sept. 9.
Fall Fundraiser
Even though the Fall Fundraiser will be held after the annual meeting, I am going to mention it first because the deadline to RSVP is August 30.
This year the event will be held at the historic Shepherd Grist Mill on High Street in Shepherdstown. Parking will be available at the Shepherd University lot at the corner of High and Princess streets. There is no home football game that day.
Our hosts will be Sharon and Adam Thomas, the owners of the mill. They are hoping to run the 40-foot water wheel for a while at the beginning of the event, which is scheduled for 5 to 7 p.m. They have invited HSC guests to tour the lower level of their home, where the workings for the grist mill are located, as well as the first floor and back porch. You get a great view of Town Run from the back porch.
The event will be catered by MJ’s on German DeliCafe. We have selected a luau theme, and the menu will include pulled pork with Hawaiian rolls and slaw; Polynesian grilled chicken; Hawaiian style macaroni salad, citrus spinach salad, and pineapple upside down cake.
Make sure you bring along some cash or your checkbook. Once again, we will be offering a 50/50 raffle. We will be selling the new 2023 Historic Shepherdstown ornament, which features Christ Reform Church, and the 2021 ornament of the Shepherd Grist Mill. We also have discovered a cache of Diana Suttenfield prints and cards that she did for Friends of the Riverfront. She has given us permission to sell them. You won’t want to miss this opportunity.
We hope to see many of you there. And if you can’t make it, we would appreciate it if you would still make a donation to Historic Shepherdstown.
Annual meeting and September Speaker Series
Historic Shepherdstown Commission’s annual meeting and September Speaker Series will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 9, at the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education on the Shepherd University campus. The annual meeting will begin at 6:45 p.m., followed immediately by the speaker series talk.
At the annual meeting, HSC members will be voting on the nominations of three well-qualified people to join the board of Historic Shepherdstown, and three current members who have agreed to serve a second three-year term.
The nominees, in alphabetical order, are:
Greg Coble: A Shepherdstown resident since April 2022, Greg devoted most of his career to mission-based nonprofit organizations. He worked at the Washington-based National Trust for Historic Preservation, an organization focused on saving historic resources and communities, for 30 years, in a range of positions including finance, strategic planning, human resources, chief of staff, and program development. For 18 of those years, he served as senior vice president of business and finance. More recently, he worked at Hosteling International USA (HI USA) for nine years as senior vice president of finance and administration.
Greg began his career working for the West Virginia Governor’s Office of Economic & Community Development, and also worked at Blue Cross of California in Oakland for two years. A Charleston, WV native, he has a bachelor’s in journalism and master’s in public administration from West Virginia University. He has served on the boards of Bonnet House (the Fort Lauderdale, FL historic house museum), International Student House of Washington, D.C., and Historic Hotels of America. He joined the board of the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia in June 2023.
Mike Nickerson: Dr. Mike Nickerson holds a doctorate in molecular medicine from the George Washington University and conducted cancer genetics research for 30 years. He is the current president of the Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association. SBPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the site of the noted Civil War battle in Shepherdstown. His wife Dr. Rosemary Nickerson is a long- time board member of the Shepherdstown Library. The Nickersons have a farm off Trough Road.
Dave Pugh: David C. Pugh Jr. is a retired educator for Jefferson County Schools, having taught social studies at Jefferson High School from 1975-2006, and then mentoring new teachers for an additional five years. Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania and raised in Carlisle, he attended Shippensburg University earning a Bachelor of Science in secondary education and a Master of Science in social science. He and his wife Jean Anne have lived in the immediate Shepherdstown area for 47 years.
From 2006-2008, Dave served on the Shepherdstown Community Club board (formerly the Men’s Club) as vice-president and chair of the Morgan’s Grove Park Committee. In 2021, he completed his second three-year term on the board of Historic Shepherdstown Commission serving as chair of the program committee and chair of the membership committee. Finally, most recently, Dave served on the board of the American Conservation Film Festival during its successful live return to the Shepherdstown Opera House in March of this year.
The three current board members who have agreed to seek re-election to a second three-year term are Terry Fulton, John Kavaliunas, and Dianne Roman. Terry and Dianne are both members of the museum committee, and have devoted a significant amount of time during the past three years working on organizing the Historic Shepherdstown archives. John is the current chair of the Museum Committee and also serves on the executive committee for HSC. He received a West Virginia History Hero award this year.
Following the annual meeting, Dr. Benjamin Bankhurst will give a talk entitled Loyalist rising and conspiracy in the Potomac borderlands before Yorktown. Bankhurst is the Ray and Madeline Johnston Chair in American History and Associate Professor of History at Shepherd University. He completed his graduate study at King’s College London. His research focuses on migration to the Appalachian frontier in the colonial and revolutionary periods.
Before joining the History Department at Shepherd, he held teaching and research appointments at the London School of Economics; the Institute of Historical Research; and Queen Mary, University of London. His articles have appeared in journals include Eire/Ireland, The Pennsylvania Magazine for History and Biography, and the Journal of Irish and Scottish History, among others. The American Council for Irish Studies awarded his first book Ulster Presbyterians and the Scots Irish Diaspora, 1750-1764 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) the Donald Murphy Prize. Bankhurst co-edited a collection of essays alongside Nigel Aston entitled Negotiating Toleration, Protestant Dissent and the Hanoverian Succession (Oxford University Press, 2019).
Bankhurst is the co-director, alongside Dr. Kyle Roberts of the Congregational Library and Archives in Boston, of the Maryland Loyalism Project, a public archive and database documenting the experiences of Chesapeake loyalists in the era of the American Revolution.
Check out the Historic Shepherdstown website for coming events and digital exhibits
Not sure when the museum is open? Want to find out about the Adam Link desk or Craft clocks? Check the website of Historic Shepherdstown, Historic Shepherdstown , for museum hours, upcoming events, and much more. The Research tab lists several items including Digital Exhibits. Here you will find illustrations and information about:
So, when it is too hot to go outside, spend some time checking out our website and in particular the section on digital exhibits: Historic Shepherdstown digital-exhibits.
My term as the president of the Historic Shepherdstown Board of Directors ends on October 4, and Jerry Bock, the current vice president, will be nominated for president. It has been a pleasure working with everyone involved in the organization for the past six years, including members of the Board of Directors, past and present, volunteers, and the HSC administrator Teresa McLaughlin. I hope to see you at the annual meeting and the fall fundraiser so I can thank you, our members and supporters, as well.
Best,
Donna Bertazzoni
President, HSC Board of Directors
Historic Shepherdstown Newsletter June 19, 2023
Dear Historic Shepherdstown Commission members and supporters,
Summer arrives on June 21, and what better way to celebrate than to attend the Historic Shepherdstown Speaker Series talk about Prohibition in Jefferson County at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education on the Shepherd University campus. Lori Wysong, the director of the Jefferson County Museum, will be the featured speaker.
Prohibition in Jefferson County officially lasted barely two decades, but its roots go much further into history and its legacies still impact us today. It brought forward social, economic, and legal issues particular to the region and others that reflected national dilemmas. Lori’s presentation will focus on histories of local bootlegging, temperance, and more, as well as on the creation of a new exhibit about Prohibition at the Jefferson County Museum.
Lori is originally from Maryland and holds an MA in History with a concentration in Public History from Villanova University. In the past, she has worked at museums and historic sites in West Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Pennsylvania. She is a local historian and author of the book Historic Washington, DC: A Tour of the District’s Top 50 National Landmarks.
The talk is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be available after the talk.
New items for the Museum’s 40th Anniversary
The Historic Shepherdstown Museum originally opened in 1983, and this year we are celebrating our 40th anniversary. As we have mentioned previously, our new map exhibit, Great Dreams, shows the evolution of Shepherdstown and Jefferson County from the 17th through the 21st Centuries.
In addition, the Museum has two other new artifacts on display. It recently acquired a traveling trunk that was owned by Col. John Francis Hamtramck. Hamtramck likely had the trunk with him when he served in the Mexican American War. The trunk, which says “Hamtramck.. Jefferson Co Va” on its canvas covering, joins four other Hamtramck artifacts in the museum, his Mexican-American War sword; a table called “The General’s Table” by his family; his officer’s commission; and an invitation from his wife’s family to a dinner honoring him in 1847. Both the trunk and the table were originally sold at the estate sale of Elise Selby Billmyer, his great-granddaughter, in 1987. The General’s Table is on loan from Wanda Perry of Charles Town.
According to the Hamtramck biography on the Historic Shepherdstown website, after the war Hamtramck returned to farming in Shepherdstown. He judged a horticultural exhibition in Charles Town, served as magistrate of the court in Jefferson County, and was mayor of Shepherdstown from 1850 to 1854. He stayed very much the military man, fond of travelling in a coach-and-four with both driver and footman. On his death in 1858, the Shepherdstown Register noted that he “met the last great enemy as might have been expected of a brave man, with calmness and composure.” The militia unit he had commanded changed its name after his death to the Hamtramck Guards, and would later become integrated into the Confederate 2nd Virginia Infantry. According to his obituary, he was buried in the family burial grounds outside of Shepherdstown.
For more details about the fascinating life of Col. Hamtramck, follow this link to view the biography on our website written by Nick Blanton: https://historicshepherdstown.com/portfolio-item/john-francis-hamtramck.
The second new item is the Baptismal Font from the recently-closed Christ Reformed Church. The font was built and hand-carved by Samuel Post Humrickhouse (also Humrichouse), who was born in Shepherdstown on March 23, 1851. This is the second item by Humrickhouse in the Museum. His 1890 plat map of Shepherdstown is in the Museum’s collection and is part of the recently-opened map exhibit.
Humrickhouse’s early years are unknown, but beginning in 1881, there are many mentions of him in The Shepherdstown Register. He was a well-known furniture maker and architect. He designed and oversaw the construction or renovation of homes, schools, churches, and businesses. In 1881, he was recognized in the paper for building the altar, pulpit, reading stand, baptismal font, and chairs for the newly-renovated Reformed Church. Other pieces of furniture that he built for the church have been moved to the New Street Methodist Church.
Among other commissions, he was the architect and contractor for the expansion of Rockland, just outside of Shepherdstown. In the early 1900s, he oversaw the renovation of both H.L. Snyder’s home and the Quigley House, both on German Street. He was the “superintendent” for the Shepherd College classroom building, which opened in 1897. Unfortunately, that building was destroyed by fire. He also designed the Shepherdstown Graded School and a school in Martinsburg. He exercised “general supervision” over the building of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church on King Street, and he designed a Methodist Church in Halltown.
Humrickhouse died at his home on German Street on August 24, 1927. The house was located on Lot 19. His wife Nellie lived there until her death in 1939. The house was then sold to U.S. Martin, the owner of the Opera House. Both Samuel and Nellie Humrickhouse are buried at Elmwood Cemetery. The last name on the gravestone is spelled Humrichouse.
The Museum is open on Saturdays and Sundays through the end of October and will reopen after Thanksgiving for Christmas in Shepherdstown.
2023 Holiday Ornament
The recently-closed Christ Reformed Church is being memorialized on the 2023 Historic Shepherdstown holiday ornament. The church’s bell tower houses the oldest bells in Shepherdstown, and several Revolutionary War soldiers and patriots are buried in its graveyard. The church building will eventually become a performance site for the Contemporary American Theater Festival. The ornament will be available for purchase in the museum beginning in July, and will be available online or through the HSC office in the fall.
Make a Difference!
Are you interested in making a difference? The Historic Shepherdstown Commission is seeking volunteers for its Board of Directors. Board members serve three-year terms, and if they choose, can serve a second consecutive three-year term. This year, because of resignations and term limits, three members of the Board need to be replaced. The Board oversees the operation of the Historic Shepherdstown Museum; maintains the Historic Entler Hotel complex; plans and publicizes the annual Speaker Series, Museum exhibits, and special events; writes grants; participates in local events; and supervises the work of the HSC administrator. We particularly need volunteers who have a background either in archiving or in social media, marketing, and communication.
If you don’t have time to be a Board member, but you are interested in volunteering, the Museum is always recruiting docents. Anyone with an interest in history or in telling the story of Shepherdstown to visitors and residents alike is welcome to volunteer.
For more information about joining the Board or volunteering in the Museum, contact Historic Shepherdstown at [email protected] or call 304-876-0910.
Upcoming events
Historic Shepherdstown will be participating in Streetfest on June 24, and in the July 4th Independence Day Parade. Stop by our Streetfest table in front of the Museum for a free poster. And remember, if it’s hot that day, the Museum is air conditioned!
The HSC Speaker Series will resume on September 6 with a talk by Dr. Ben Bankhurst of the Shepherd University history department, who will speak about Loyalism in the Lower Valley during the American Revolution. This event will also serve as the HSC Annual Membership Meeting. The final talk, Important Architectural Features of the Shepherdstown Historic District, will be held on October 18. It will be presented in partnership with the Shepherdstown Historic Landmarks Commission.
And, on September 9, the annual Fall Fundraiser will be held at the Thomas Shepherd Grist Mill. The event will be hosted by the Mill’s owners, Shannon and Adam Thomas. Invitations will be sent to HSC members later this summer.
On a personal note, my term as HSC President and as a Board member ends in September. I have enjoyed meeting many of you at various HSC events and communicating with you through our newsletter and press releases. Jerry Bock, the current vice president, will take over as president of the Board in October. Like many “retired” HSC Board members, I plan to continue to volunteer with HSC. It’s a great organization to work with. Come join us and find out for yourself!
Best,
Donna Bertazzoni
President, HSC Board of Directors
2023 Preservation Award Winners
Historic Preservation Month award winners
May is National Historic Preservation Month and we celebrated by honoring individuals involved in preservation efforts in the Shepherdstown area. We are delighted to announce our award winners for 2023.
The Preservation of Historic Properties award was given to Steve and Harriet Pearson, for the renovation and rehabilitation of the Shepherdstown Opera House. To watch their Speaker Series talk on the process of the renovation see https://youtu.be/-kD47VvjKIk
Harriet and Steve Pearson with Donna Bertazzoni and Jerry Bock
The Preservation of Historic Legacies (James C. Price) award went to Jim Surkamp, for his years of actively promoting and preserving the local history, sharing his knowledge of historically significant families, and creating numerous videos about historic events in Shepherdstown.
Jim Surkamp and Donna Bertazzoni
The Service to Historic Shepherdstown Commission award was given to two important long-time HSC volunteers, A. Jerry Bucey and Nick Blanton. Bucey is receiving the award for his dedicated service on the Board of Directors and for his work on the Executive Committee, as co-chair and member of the Building Committee, and as chair of the Cemetery Committee. Blanton served one term on the HSC board, and since then has been a dedicated volunteer member of the Building Committee and the Museum Committee. He has also been the liaison with the Rumseian Society and has been the lead volunteer with the James Rumsey Boathouse and replica boat, frequently volunteering to tell the James Rumsey story during student field trips.
Nick Blanton and Jerry Bucey, service to Historic Shepherdstown with Donna Bertazzoni and Jerry Bock.
Speaker series, 2023 – Lori Wysong, Prohibition in Jefferson County
Prohibition in Jefferson County is the subject of Historic Shepherdstown Commission’s June Speaker Series event, scheduled for Wednesday, June 21, at 7 p.m., at the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education on the campus of Shepherd University. The talk will be given by Lori Wysong, the director of the Jefferson County Museum in Charles Town.
Prohibition in Jefferson County officially lasted barely two decades, but its roots go much further into history and its legacies still impact us today. It brought forward social, economic, and legal issues particular to the region and others that reflected national dilemmas. This presentation will focus on histories of local bootlegging, temperance, and more, as well as on the creation of a new exhibit about Prohibition at the Jefferson County Museum.
Wysong is originally from Maryland and holds an MA in History with a concentration in Public History from Villanova University. In the past, she has worked at museums and historic sites in West Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Pennsylvania. She is a local historian and author of the book Historic Washington, DC: A Tour of the District’s Top 50 National Landmarks.