Shepherdstown’s BooFest and the Historic Shepherdstown Museum Ghost Tours, October 26 and 27.

Entler Hotel

Halloween is coming and that means it’s time for Shepherdstown’s BooFest and the Historic Shepherdstown Museum’s 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.

Join us for a free tour of the Museum and learn about some of the two dozen spirits that visitors have claimed to have seen, sensed and even felt. Tours will be offered on Saturday, October 26, and Sunday, October 27, every half hour from 1:00 to 3:30 PM. (Donations are always welcomed.)

On Saturday and Sunday evenings, follow local paranormal investigators Patricia Marin and Meredith Moore, along with psychic medium Angel Wells and dowser Les Johnson, as they explore the three floors of the museum. Tickets for these evening events are available below, and on Historic Shepherdstown and are $15 per person. Preregistration is required and participation is limited.

Feel free to bring your digital recorders to capture EVPs (spirit voices) and EMF meters (which may help locate the spirits), along with any other equipment you may have.

Don’t be scared. Our ghosts are known to be friendly, but curious. At least up to now.

Tickets for the Ghost Tour are available here:

Ghost Tour – October 26

Ghost Tour – October 27

Undecided? Watch Halloween in Shepherdstown

Aren’t you curious now?

Speaker Series – The Architectural Features of the Shepherdstown Historic District, 1850 to present – Tom Mayes and Keith Alexander, October 16, 2024.

Tom Mayes and Keith Alexander

Historic Shepherdstown Commission & Museum is pleased to announce the fourth and final presentation in its 2024 Speaker Series.  National Trust for Historic Preservation Chief Legal Officer & General Counsel Tom Mayes and Shepherd University Associate Professor of History Dr. Keith Alexander will discuss and illustrate the architectural features of the Shepherdstown Historic District, focusing on 1850 to present.   Open to the public and free of charge, the talk will be held on Wednesday, October 16 at 7 pm at the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education at Shepherd University.

As West Virginia’s oldest town, Shepherdstown has a rich and diverse architectural and historical heritage spanning four centuries.   The majority of Shepherdstown is within a designated historic district that was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, just seven years after the register was authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act.

Tom Mayes and Keith Alexander both serve on Shepherdstown’s Historic Landmarks Commission, with Alexander serving as chair.

  • Mayes oversees the National Trust’s legal defense fund, which advocates for the protection of significant places and defends and strengthens historic preservation law. The recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Rome Prize in Historic Preservation in 2013, Mayes is the author of Why Old Places Matter.  For many years, he taught historic preservation law at the University of Maryland.
  • Alexander co-directs with Dr. Julia Sandy the Historic Preservation and Public History concentration within the history major at Shepherd. His most recent projects include a study of the Wheeling National Heritage Area and an analysis of the landscape and structures at Ferry Hill in the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park as a window into the lives of enslaved persons.
LOC

162nd Anniversary of the Battle of Shepherdstown commemorated at Entler.

This month marks the 162nd anniversary of the Battle of Shepherdstown.
On September 19, 1862, two days after the bloodletting at  Antietam, Union soldiers pushed across the Potomac River at Boteler’s Ford. just below Shepherdstown, and attacked the Confederate rearguard. Early the next day, two Union divisions crossed the river to establish a bridgehead. As the Union soldiers were crossing the river, the Confederates counterattacked, inflicting heavy casualties before the Union troops could pull back to the Maryland shore. This rearguard battle discouraged Federal pursuit of Robert E. Lee’s defeated army back to Virginia and ended Lee’s Maryland Campaign.
On Saturday, September 21, from 11 am -to 5 pm, the Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association will have an exhibit in front of the Historic Shepherdstown Museum displaying battle maps, books, and artifacts related to the battle.
Stop by and say hello!

Speaker Series – Historic National Road. Tiffany Ahalt, September 4, 2024 – now online

Speaker Series – Historic National Road. Tiffany Ahalt, September 4.

The 2024 Historic Shepherdstown Speaker Series featured Tiffany Ahalt on September 4 at 6:45 pm in the auditorium of the Shepherd University Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education, talking about the history, preservation and promotion of the historic National Road.

The National Road was the first major federally funded highway built by the US government.   Built between 1811 and 1837, the original 620 mile road was a major transport path to the West for thousands of settlers and also stimulated the earliest forms of travel-related tourism.  Often nicknamed the Main Street of America, in the 20th century with the advent of the automobile the National Road was connected with other historic routes to California with much of it aligned with U.S. Route 40.   Ms. Ahalt explored this history and how national and state programs are paving the way to preserve and promote the landscapes and main streets along the National Road and other scenic byways.

Historic Shepherdstown Annual Meeting held, September 4, 2024

Jerry Bock, president of the Historic Shepherdstown Commission, announced the 2024 James C. Price Preservation of Historic Legacies Award winners:
  • Arthur (Jim) Auxer III: Jim has been selected based on his years of actively promoting and preserving our local history. In his role as long time Mayor of Shepherdstown, he was a staunch supporter of the Shepherdstown Historic District and the Historic Shepherdstown Museum. Jim’s expertise and his contribution to preserving the history of Shepherdstown are most appreciated. Thank you for your many years of dedication to our town!
  • Jim Broomall: Jim has provided incredible leadership as Director of the George Tyler Moore Center for the Study of the Civil War, and more recently as Director of the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education. In addition, his contributions as a board member at Historic Shepherdstown and service on the Shepherdstown Historic Landmarks Commission have been of great value to the community.
  • Keith Alexander: In his role as history professor at Shepherd University, Keith has educated young (and older) minds to understand the importance of preserving our incredible local history. His leadership on the Shepherdstown Historic Landmarks Commission and his many contributions to the Historic Shepherdstown Commission and Museum are recognized.

 

For the Service to Historic Shepherdstown Commission Award:

  • Al Levitan: We are recognizing Al’s service on the HSC Board of Directors, and especially his incredible efforts as a member and later Chair of the Entler Building Committee. Al has spent countless hours handling a huge variety of maintenance projects at the Entler complex, greatly contributing to the preservation of an important historic landmark.
  • Johnna Armstrong: We are recognizing Johnna’s service on the HSC Board of Directors, her service as Treasurer at HSC, and especially her tireless efforts as an on-line media specialist/technician for our organization. Her expertise is very much appreciated and has proved invaluable to HSC on numerous occasions over many years.

Speaker Series – Historic National Road. Tiffany Ahalt, September 4.

The 2024 Historic Shepherdstown Speaker Series will feature Tiffany Ahalt on September 4 at 6:45 pm in the auditorium of the Shepherd University Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education, talking about the history, preservation and promotion of the historic National Road.  The program is free and open to the public.

With thirty years of experience in the hospitality and tourism industry, Tiffany Ahalt has held leadership roles with the National Road Heritage Foundation, C&O Canal Association, Howard County (MD) Tourism Council and Maryland National Road Association.   A promoter of Washington County as a visitor destination, she also recently chaired Frederick County’s Rural and Scenic Roads Advisory Committee which was instrumental in creating an official commission overseeing the designation and protection of the County’s most historic, scenic and unaltered rural roads.

The National Road was the first major federally funded highway built by the US government.   Built between 1811 and 1837, the original 620 mile road was a major transport path to the West for thousands of settlers and also stimulated the earliest forms of travel-related tourism.  Often nicknamed the Main Street of America, in the 20th century with the advent of the automobile the National Road was connected with other historic routes to California with much of it aligned with U.S. Route 40.   Ms. Ahalt will explore this history and how national and state programs are paving the way to preserve and promote the landscapes and main streets along the National Road and other scenic byways.

The talk will be preceded by a short Annual Business Meeting for Historic Shepherdstown Commission, which will feature the presentation of the 2024 Historic Preservation Awards.

Born of Rebellion: West Virginia Statehood and the Civil War exhibit at the Byrd Center

Born of Rebellion: West Virginia Statehood and the Civil War exhibit is now at the Byrd Center at Shepherd University until September 27th.  The West Virginia Humanities Council, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), created the exhibit  dealing with the legal question of statehood of West Virginia and a kaleidoscope of state wide perspectives. This comprehensive, large-scale experience covers sectional tensions within Virginia preceding the Civil War, the violence and chaos of the war surrounding West Virginia’s formation, and the difficult aftermath as the new state struggled to forge its destiny during Reconstruction.

Born of Rebellion explores this tumultuous and complex era from a wide range of perspectives, including politicians, common soldiers, women, and African Americans, along with the diary of Upshur County teenager Sirene Bunten, who was only 16 when West Virginia achieved statehood in 1863 and her observations as a girl who loses two brothers to the war.

For more information see Born of Rebellion

Paranormal events at museum, July 26 and 27 – postponed until October

This event has been postponed until October. Hope to see you then.

A  ghost tour of the historic Entler hotel will be led by Dana Mitchell from the Ghosts of Shepherdstown, and the psychic Angel Fisher. Click on links below to purchase tickets.

 

 

Renovation of the Entler Hotel Garden, Historic Shepherdstown Museum

The work party

Several members of the Shenandoah Garden Club, Peggy Bowers (the project’s landscape architect), and several members of the Historic Shepherdstown Commission (HSC) showed up, armed with trowels, garden gloves, bug spray, and lots of enthusiasm. As Sue Guay of the Shenandoah Garden Club described it  – It was Planting Day! And they were there to put into their new home nearly one hundred perennial plants which had been purchased in a joint project between the garden club and HSC. Hydrangea, hosta, amsonia, polygonatum (Solomon’s Seal), iris, clematis, astilbe, Lenten rose, cone flower, and ferns, as well a few large shrubs, will bloom and grace these newly-refurbished gardens.

In 2008, Shenandoah Garden Club had received a $9,000 grant from the Shenandoah-Potomac Garden Council to renovate this same space at the Entler. The funding for the original project was generated by the sale of tickets to the annual House and Garden Tour that year. This generous gift made possible the renovation of the Entler Hotel flower beds; the installation of landscaping including boxwoods, ferns, fothergilla; and the enlargement of the flagstone patio. Using this grant the Historic Shepherdstown Commission was able to have the yard graded, replace plant material, define the beds, and enlarge the flagstone patio.

Many of those plants installed sixteen years ago have grown and flourished and have become a bit unruly; many have run their course and have died. The large flower bed, the centerpiece of the Entler’s patio area, now consisted of a large bed of…mulch!

The Entler Hotel needed help.

The Shenandoah Garden Club needed a “Small Project.”

The Shenandoah-Potomac Garden Council needed garden clubs to apply for an annual grant, called “Small Project Awards,” which uses funds generated from the annual House and Garden Tour to fund community beautification projects.

It was a three-way match, and luckily Shenandoah Garden Club Vice President Mary O’Hara knew about all three organizations. She contacted Susan Guay, Chair of the Club’s Project Committee, and the ball began to roll. Mary is also a member of Historic Shepherdstown and a docent at the museum. She contacted Dave Pugh,  the Vice President of  HSC, who was delighted to learn that the Entler was being considered for the grant. Ms O’Hara then called Peggy Bowers to request assistance with this project, and Ms Bowers agreed to participate. She donated a landscape plan, developed a plant list, and even drove to Pennsylvania to pick up the plants.

Meanwhile, Ms Guay waded through pages of grant application, made phone calls, wrote, re-wrote, changed, modified, and edited the paperwork. She was thrilled to find out that the application had been approved by the Council, and the project was awarded $1,000, which was matched by  Historic Shepherdstown Commission. That $2,000 purchased nearly one hundred perennial plants and shrubs.

The newly-planted perennials are now flourishing in their new, spacious beds.  Next time you are on German Street, look through the wrought iron fence next to the Entler into the garden, or better yet, visit the museum at the weekend and come in and enjoy it up close.  Historic Shepherdstown is most grateful to the Shenandoah Garden Club, in particular Mary O’Hara and Sue Guay and to Peggy Bowers for her inspired design work and plant knowledge.

 

Speaker series – Where the Rivers Join: Native American Cultures of The Potomac and Shenandoah Valleys. Carole Nash, May 15

 

May 15 Presentation on “Where the Rivers Join: Native American Cultures of The Potomac and Shenandoah Valleys” is now online.

Dr. Carole Nash, James Madison University Professor, presented the second of our 2024 Speaker Series, “Where the Rivers Join: Native American Cultures of The Potomac and Shenandoah Valleys.” Dr. Nash’s talk was held on Wednesday, May 15 at 7 pm at the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education at Shepherd University.

During the period of A.D. 1200-1600, just prior to European settlement, the Potomac/Shenandoah region was occupied by a variety of indigenous Native American cultures. This presentation was be an opportunity to gain important insights about the often overlooked pre-European history of our region.

Carole Nash, Ph.D., RPA, is Professor in the School of Integrated Sciences at James Madison University where she has taught for 35 years. Her research focuses on the Blue Ridge and Shenandoah Valley, specializing in First Peoples archaeology and historical ecology. She is the author of many technical reports, scholarly papers, and publications, including co-author of Foundations of Archaeology in the Middle Atlantic. She is President of Mountain Valley Archaeology which partners with descendant communities on archaeological and historical research in western Virginia. She directs the Virginia Archaeological Certification Program, a citizen science initiative that partners professional and avocational archaeologists.