Bee Line March, 1775, Speaker Series talk by Doug Perks, May 2025 now online

Historic Shepherdstown’s 2025 Speaker Series featured a May 14 talk by local historian and Jefferson County, WV, native Doug Perks about the history around the summer of 1775 Bee Line March.   The talk, which begins the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Bee Line March, focused on the stories around the remarkable 26 day 600 mile journey in summer 1775 of 95 Virginians known as the Bee Line March, under the command of Captain Hugh Stephenson, who set out from what is now Shepherdstown, WV to Cambridge, MA to join General George Washington.

Doug Perks – Bee Line March

 

Bee Line March map

The route of the Bee Line March was recently mapped by Jefferson County GIS and Addressing Department  and Historic Shepherdstown, using Henry Bedinger’s diary, as quoted by Danske Dandridge’s Historic Shepherdstown. See Bee Line March map

Speaker Series – 1775 Bee Line March, May 14, Doug Perks

Doug Perks

Historic Shepherdstown’s 2025 Speaker Series will continue with a May 14 talk by local historian and Jefferson County, WV, native Doug Perks about the history around the summer of 1775 Bee Line March.   The talk, which helps to kick off the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Bee Line March, will take place at the Shepherd University Robert C. Byrd Center in Shepherdstown, WV, at 7 pm on Wednesday, May 14.

This talk will focus on the stories around the remarkable 26 day 600 mile journey in summer 1775 of 95 Virginians known as the Bee Line March, under the command of Captain Hugh Stephenson, who set out from what is now Shepherdstown, WV to Cambridge, MA to join General George Washington.   In June 1775, the Continental Congress had established the Continental Army, which would include a Virginia company formed in Berkeley County, WV and which gathered in Shepherdstown (then Mecklenburg) for the journey to Cambridge.

The speaker, Doug Perks, recently retired as the Historian of the Jefferson County Museum.   He serves as Historian for the Elmwood Cemetery Association and is a Director of the Jefferson County Historical Society.   In 2023, he published The Civil War Years in Jefferson County, VA.  He was named a West Virginia History Hero in 2017 and in 2022 was named the Historian Laureate of Shepherdstown.

The route of the Bee Line March was recently mapped by Jefferson County GIS and Addressing Department  and Historic Shepherdstown, using Henry Bedinger’s diary quoted by Danske Dandridge’s Historic Shepherdstown. See Bee Line March map

Speaker Series – April 16 to focus on new Sheetz rifle exhibit in museum

Kentucky Rifle Foundation rifle display case being installed.

A special exhibit, Longrifles by the Sheetz family and Other Gunsmiths from Jefferson and Berkeley Counties, will open at the Historic Shepherdstown Museum on Saturday, April 19. The exhibit, co-sponsored by Historic Shepherdstown and the Kentucky Rifle Foundation, will feature 15 rifles made between 1740 and 1840, including 10 signed Sheetz rifles.

It will be preceded by a free Speaker Series talk History of Kentucky Rifles from the 18th to 20th century on Wednesday, April 16, at which master gunsmith Brian LaMaster will speak about Kentucky Rifles in general and Kentucky Rifle Foundation board member Tim Hodges will speak specifically about the rifles in the exhibit. The talk will be given at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the Robert C. Byrd Center on the Shepherd College campus. The talk is free and open to the public.

The Kentucky Rifle Foundation is the educational arm of the Kentucky Rifle Association. The KRA is an organization dedicated to those people interested in collecting and preserving the art and history of antique Kentucky Rifles, pistols, horns, and accoutrements. Both LaMaster and Hodges are past presidents of the KRA.

This will be the largest display of rifles in the Historic Shepherdstown Museum in its more than 40-year history. The exhibit is the first event for Shepherdstown’s 250th Anniversary Celebration of the Bee Line March, which occurred in the summer of 1775.

The exhibit will feature rifles by several members of the Sheetz family, including a restocked Philip Sheetz, and rifles by Jacob Sheetz, Martin Sheetz, and William Miller Sheetz, all of Shepherdstown. It will also include a rifle by Frederick Sheetz, the son of Henry Sheetz, who worked in Hampshire County. There will also be rifles by Martin Rizer of Martinsburg, and Daniel Marker, who worked in Martinsburg and in towns in Maryland.

Brothers Philip and Henry Sheetz were working in Mecklenburg (now Shepherdstown) as early as 1768. By 1776, they had a contract to supply 24 guns per month to the state of Virginia for use by the militia during the Revolutionary War. Demand for military guns declined after the Revolution, and civilian arms like the Kentucky rifle became the focus. The Sheetz family remained active in Shepherdstown, and they also spread throughout the area. Henry eventually moved to Hampshire County.

While most of the rifles in the exhibit are being loaned to Historic Shepherdstown Museum by members of the Kentucky Rifle Association, the museum owns two William Miller Sheetz rifles, and an Entler fowler, which will also be on display.

One of the museum’s William Miller Sheetz rifles was commissioned by Rezin Davis Shepherd, grandson of Shepherdstown’s founder Thomas Shepherd, for his grandson Peter C. Brooks. The rifle is signed W M Sheetz Shepherds Town VA No 85” in script on the top flat of the 44-inch rifled barrel. A rectangular silver plate (added later) inlaid behind the cheekpiece is inscribed “Peter C Brooks From his Grandfather Shepherd”.

To commemorate the Bee Line March, the museum will also have on display a mannequin dressed as a Virginia militiaman, and a large map of the marchers’ route. The marcher’s outfit and the map are both based on entries in the diary of Henry Bedinger, who along with his brother George Michael Bedinger both participated in the Bee Line March. Henry served as 4th Sargeant and George Michael served as 4th Corporal for the company. Their brother Daniel also eventually served during the Revolution. The mannequin represents Adam Sheetz, a member of the Sheetz family, who also completed the march.

On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress asked Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania to send companies of militiamen to Massachusetts to help General George Washington blockade Boston. Under the command of Captain Hugh Stephenson, one company left Shepherdstown, Virginia, on foot on July 17, 1775, and arrived in Cambridge on August 11, completing the nearly 600-mile journey in 26 days.

The Bee Line March committee is sponsoring several events this summer. A complete schedule can be found at Bee Line March 250th Anniversary

An article published in the April 2025 KRA Bulletin of the Kentucky Rifle Association tells the story of the exhibit – KRA partners with Historic Shepherdstown

The Exhibition Guide for the exhibit is available at Guide for Longrifle Exhibition – Historic Shepherdstown and Kentucky Rifle Foundation – page 1 and Guide for Longrifle Exhibition – Historic Shepherdstown and Kentucky Rifle Foundation – page 2

 

 

 

Bee Line March 250th Anniversary Celebration Will Begin with Museum Exhibit & Talk

Philip Sheetz, DAR marker, Shepherdstown Lutheran Cemetery

The town of Shepherdstown will begin a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Bee Line March during the third week of April with the opening of a special exhibit of Revolutionary War-era rifles at the Historic Shepherdstown Museum.

The Bee Line March was a trek made in the summer of 1775 by a company of riflemen from Shepherdstown to join General George Washington at his siege of Boston. The Shepherdstown company was one of 10 such companies raised in the colonies that summer in response to a call for volunteers from the Continental Congress. The raising of these companies is generally recognized as the beginning of the United States Army. The Shepherdstown company is of particular significance because it covered the 600 miles to Massachusetts in just 25 days. This was an extraordinary feat for the time, and it was quickly dubbed the “Bee Line March.”

The Historic Shepherdstown Museum exhibit will open on April 19. It will feature choice examples of flintlock rifles made by the famous Sheetz gunsmithing family and other 18th- and early 19th-century gunsmiths of the region, along with gunsmithing tools and related items. It is being assembled in cooperation with the Kentucky Rifle Foundation, one of the nation’s leading organizations dedicated to the collection and preservation of American flintlock long rifles.

The Historic Shepherdstown Museum exhibit will be open every weekend from April 26 through October 19, on Saturdays from 11 am to 5 p.m. and on Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m., and by appointment. A $5 donation will be requested for admission; members of the military and children will be admitted free.

The exhibit’s opening will be preceded by a talk the evening of Wednesday, April 16, about the rifles that will be displayed and gunsmithing of the period in general. Sponsored by Historic Shepherdstown, the talk will be held at 7 pm In the auditorium of the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education on the Shepherd University Campus. The presenters will be master gunsmith Brian LaMaster, of High View, WV, and Kentucky rifle expert Tim Hodges, of Winchester, VA. Admission will be free.

The Bee Line March anniversary celebration will continue through the summer with a series of events and activities, all free, including the following:

  • May 14 talk about the Bee Line March, by Jefferson County historian Doug Perks. The talk will be sponsored by Historic Shepherdstown and held at 7 pm in the auditorium of the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education.
  • June 7 dedication by the Daughters of the American Revolution of a Patriots Marker at Morgan’s Grove Park at 11 am.
  • June 14 a daylong Bee Line March celebration at Morgan’s Grove Park. Event and activities will begin at 10 am and include drills and weapons demonstrations by members of the Sons of the American Revolution; 18th Century children’s games; music by the West Virginia University Mountaineer Fifes and Drums; displays by Jefferson County Historical Society, Historic Shepherdstown, Daughters of the American Revolution, Sons of the American Revolution, and similar groups; and a 2 pm commemorative ceremony. Food trucks will offer barbeque for purchase. The Shepherdstown Community Club will have a tent selling special Bee Line March beer brewed by the Bavarian Inn Resort and Brewing Company.
  • June 22 recital and lecture on military music of the Revolutionary War period, by Music of the Regiment, an ensemble of musicians and researchers dedicated to the study and performance of 18th and 19th century military music. Sponsored by Friends of Music, the performance will be held at 3 pm at Shepherdstown’s Trinity Episcopal Church.
  • July 19 a daylong encampment of Revolutionary War reenactors at Morgan’s Grove Park. Events and activities will begin at 10 am and include talks in the park pavilion to frame the living history context; 18th Century children’s games; fife and drum demonstrations by the Old Line Fife and Drum Corps from Frederick, MD; drill and flintlock use demonstrations; and demonstrations of Revolutionary War camp life activities. Food trucks will offer barbeque for purchase.

The anniversary celebration is being made possible by contributions from the Jefferson County Historical Society, the Rotary Club of Shepherdstown, Historic Shepherdstown, the Friends of Music, the Jefferson County Historic Landmarks Commission, the Jefferson County Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Shepherdstown Community Club, the Adam Stephen Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, and the Pack Horse Ford Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

(Photograph of Martin Sheetz rifle courtesy of Tim Hodges of the Kentucky Rifle Association)

Speaker Series – The History of Pottery Making in Shepherdstown 1700s to Present Day – Pam Parziale, March 26, 2025

Pam Parziale

The 2025 Historic Shepherdstown Speaker Series will kick off with three events in the spring, starting with Pam Parziale who with her late husband Ren established Sycamore Pottery near Shepherdstown over 50 years ago. She will talk about the “History of Pottery Making in Shepherdstown 1700s to Present Day.” The event will be held on March 26 at 7 pm in the Byrd Center on the Shepherd University Campus.

It was no accident Pam and Ren Parziale settled near Shepherdstown when they established Sycamore Pottery in 1971. They were continuing the Shenandoah Valley tradition of pottery making. They were also looking for an affordable place to live, moving from Washington, DC. Pam will tell the story of working in clay by placing craftwork in a larger historical context of Jefferson County’s beginnings to the present day. This includes the story of Shepherdstown’s Weis family, three generations of potters who made pottery from the late 1700s to 1901. Present day potters around Shepherdstown continue to turn clay into beautiful pottery.

“The past is prologue. West Virginia is known for its tradition of craftwork, basketry, woodworking, quilting, and pottery,” Pam says. “There’s a lot of history behind what we’re doing, which made it possible for us to move here seamlessly in the 1970’s. People here understood working with your hands.”

When Pam won the Governor’s Distinguished Arts Award in 2005 for lifetime achievement, recognizing her service on numerous local, state and regional arts advocacy organizations, she said “we had quit our jobs with steady incomes to live a dream that was vague on details, but full of romance: to work the land, raise our children with food from our garden, and make pots the way our biblical ancestors did – on the potter’s wheel.” The couple received the West Virginia Governor’s Excellence in Support of the Arts Award in 2016. Ren died in March 2024, and has left a legacy of workmanship, kiln building, and design. Ren and Pam’s work for Historic Shepherdstown spans fifty years.

 

There will be two additional speaker series events in the spring. On April 16 in the Byrd Center at 7 pm, Tim Hodges and Brian LaMaster will talk about the “History of Kentucky Rifles from the 18th to 20th century.” The seasonal opening of the Historic Shepherdstown Museum on April 19 will feature a very special exhibit of Kentucky Rifles sponsored by the Kentucky Rifle Association. On May 14 in the Byrd Center at 7 pm, Doug Perks will talk about the “Bee Line March,” when in the summer of 1775, militia men from Shepherdstown marched 600 miles in 25 days to Boston with “Liberty or Death” emblazoned on their buckskin shirts to enlist for a year’s service as reinforcements for the newly formed Continental Army.
Harriet Wise

A Fine Day Out for Washington and Rumsey

A Fine Day Out for Washington and Rumsey

by Nick Blanton

George Washington leaves on the Rumseian Experiment – photographer Harriet Wise

 

In 1993 the architect of the US Capitol, George White, organized a bicentennial celebration to commemorate the laying of the cornerstone of the Capitol in 1793, by George Washington.  It was decided to have a re-enactment of the event.  George had been brought up river from Mt Vernon for the occasion ( boats were often the more comfortable way to travel in early America), and an actor portraying Washington was therefore to be dropped off at the Georgetown waterfront. Rather than a long haul from Mt Vernon, it was also decided that transporting  him from Roosevelt Island would be enough.

A historic boat was needed. The Alexandria Seaport Foundation was contacted.  There were a few appropriate boats available. But the event had grown beyond, say,  George stepping off a rowboat. He’d laid the cornerstone in full Masonic regalia, and so naturally the bicentennial celebration turned into a very Masonic event, Masons everywhere wanting in on the mortar, so to speak.  Grand Masters of 50 lodges came. George himself was to have a small entourage. Someone – likely Bill Hunley- suggested the Rumseian Experiment for transport, given James Rumsey’s associations with Washington. It was also the biggest craft available. In any case, Jay Hurley jumped at the chance.

On the afternoon of September  17, therefore, the boat was hitched to Jay’s truck, a crew of Dan Tokar, Ernie Fuss and Roy Leblanc was stuffed into the cab with Jay, and the boat was hauled down to Gravely Point. From there it was given a tow up to the Georgetown Waterfront, and tied to the dock. As soon as the engine was re-assembled, Jay bid good evening to the crew.  Where are we supposed to spend the night? They asked. On the boat, said Jay. What are we sleeping on? Oh, rake up some of those life vests and sleep on those. What if it rains? There’s a tarp over the life vests, use that.  And off he went to a dinner and a bed.

The crew took turns walking into Georgetown and found a few trucks to feed them, then passed an uncomfortable but uneventful night. I arrived early the next morning, and found Roy, Ernie and Dan naturally somewhat stiff and bleary. Jay appeared, and Bill, both richly attired. We got a tow to Roosevelt Island, and the small convoy of historic watercraft assembled; an elegant captain’s gig with matching oarsmen, an immensely charming  miniature square-rigged vessel named The Federalist, and a ramshackle James River bateau.

George Washington and hangers-on arrived, and at the appropriate time we got up steam. Then, as was typical, we ran the engine until it stopped,  cleared the main valve of boiler grunge, ran it again until it stopped,  fixed a problem, raised steam again, ran it, fixed another problem.  Buckets of water, oil cans, bags of wood were moved around, used. Time went by…  Eventually, we actually got underway. As the crew had to swarm about to start and then swarm about to keep the boat slowly going, it was fortunate the actor was deep into Washington’s character, stoically holding a straight face. Eventually, the landing was reached. Washington and entourage disembarked at the Waterfront,  Masons and people of importance crowded around and bore him away.

George Washington Lands in Georgetown – photographer Harriet Wise

Flotilla docked in Georgetown – photographer Harriet Wise

We were left to hang out; converse with the other boat people, explain ourselves. We did get to the Capitol, then came back. In the afternoon we steamed up again and chugged about in front of the waterfront, then  got another tow downstream to Gravely Point, where the boat was hauled out and trailered back home. And the crew got to sleep in their beds.

Flotilla in Potomac River near Georgetown (photography by Harriet Wise)

Frederick photographer Harriet Wise took a lot of photos ( tempting to say a boatload- but let’s not). She recently gave them to the Museum, so here is a selection. When she was shooting, Harriet always had a fixed grin on her face, as though she wouldn’t be anywhere else for the world. There was a lot to grin at, that day.

Apparently they’ve already scheduled a tricentennial celebration for 2093.

 

Ernie Fuss, Bill Hunsley and Jay Hurley converse at the Capitol. – photographer Harriet Wise.

 

Shepherdstown Tour of Historic Churches, 2024

Shepherdstown Historic Houses of Worship Walking Tour
– Thursday, December 26:  3 – 7 pm
– Free to the public
– Seven churches (spanning from the late 18th century until the early 21st century) open with docents to discuss the history of the structure and congregation
– Walking tour brochures will be available at the War Memorial Building and the Historic Shepherdstown Museum (the museum will be open for touring)
– Sponsors:  Historic Shepherdstown Commission (also the organizer), Shepherdstown Community Club, Jefferson County Convention & Visitors Center, Corporation of Shepherdstown, participating churches