I know I’ve addressed this topic before, but a couple of weeks ago we were in Cleveland and the subject came up again and seemed to generate a bit of interest. The conversation started when I was asked, again, “now what part of West Virginia are you from?” That led to a lengthy discussion about Shepherdstown and the subject of James Rumsey came up… so here’s the background, or at least what I know of it about one of Shepherdstown’s famous residents.
James Rumsey was raised a simple man of simple means without a formal education. He did have a penchant for mechanics and early on drew up plans for various types of machinery. Not much is known about Rumsey, born in 1743, until around 1782 when he was living in Bath, Virginia (now Berkeley Springs, West Virginia.) He probably moved to the area with his family some years before the American Revolution, from Cecil County, Maryland where he had helped run the family water mill at Bohemia Manor. In Bath, he built houses, became a partner in a mercantile business and helped run a boarding house and tavern called the “Sign of the Liberty Pole and Flag.”
In 1784, a pre-presidential George Washington stayed at the inn that Rumsey helped run and hired him to build a house and stable on property that Washington owned in Bath. In his dealings with Washington, Rumsey discussed his idea for a steam-powered engine with him — George was so impressed that he provided him with a Certificate of Commendation and encouraged him to speak with investors about developing the technology. Less than five years later, on December 3, 1787, Rumsey made a very successful public demonstration of his steam-powered boat on the Potomac river in Shepherdstown. The demonstration in Shepherdstown was very impressive, but many/most people questioned the commercial feasibility of the technology of powering boats by steam and investors were hard to come by. Five years after his successful demonstration in the Potomac, Rumsey traveled to England to pitch his idea to a group of investors there. Unfortunately, while in England, he fell ill and died — never realizing his dream of commercial steam boats.
It wasn’t until 1807 (twenty years after Rumsey’s success on the Potomac) that Fulton demonstrated and began operation of the North River Steamboat — a commercial transport ship on the Hudson River.
A Rumseyan Society was formed in Shepherdstown in 1906 and was responsible for building a monument to Rumsey in a park overlooking the Potomac.
A second Rumseyan Society was formed in Shepherdstown in the 1980s to construct a replica of the successful Rumsey steamboat and celebrate the boat’s bicentennial in 1987. The boat was constructed in the machine and blacksmith shop in the back of O’Hurley’s General Store. The replica is housed in a small building behind the Entler Hotel.
If you visit Shepherdstown, your visit should include a stop at the monument on the banks of the Potomac that memorializes not only Rumsey, but the proper birthplace of the steam boat….
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