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THE GUARDIAN
Newsletter of the Jefferson County WV Historical Society
WINTER 2015 VOLUME XIII NUMBER
Part 1 of a New Series on the Craft Heritage of Jefferson County
Contributions of Early German Immigrants to Shepherdstown’s History
by Eric S. Hendricks Jenkins
When a work lifts your spirits and inspires bold and noble thoughts
in you, do not look for any other standard from which to judge it: the
work is good, the product of a master craftsman. Jean de la Bruyere
No better sentiment could be said for those master craftspeople
who called Shepherdstown home. Those early artisans, who turned
mounds of red clay into graceful urns, sheets of copper into steaming
kettles, chunks of iron into locks to safeguard treasures and richly
figured wood into time-keeping heirlooms, certainly deserve a place,
not just on our museum shelves, but in our conscious mind, there
laying the framework for future artistic endeavors of regional artists
and craftspeople.
The Shepherdstown of today, with its trendy tourist shops, filled
with West Virginia crafts of many handmade varieties as well as
the artistic flair of Shepherd University students, may very well
owe much to those early artisans who called the bluffs above the
Potomac home over two centuries ago. The Shepherdstown of the
late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-centuries, situated along the
busy Philadelphia Wagon Road, was a bustling layover for those
driving cattle, hogs and loaded wagons of grain to northern markets
from the “bread basket” of the Shenandoah Valley. This region was
one of the last more heavily populated points in early days for those
entering the largely uninhabited frontier of the back country. It
offered a last chance to stock up on basic necessities: a trusty, wellmade rifle, copper pots and kettles and all important storage crocks
for preserving foods in the days before refrigeration. Shepherdstown,
Eric Jenkins with an Entler rifle and Kraft Clock from his personal collection.
UPCOMING EVENTS SPONSORED BY JCHS
•
Sunday, March 8, 2015, 2 – 5 PM SCAN YOUR HISTORIC PHOTOS
Community Room at the Charles Town Library. The Jefferson County Historical Society (JCHS) will sponsor
a photo scanning workshop. The community is invited to bring their photographs of people, places and events
which relate to the history of Jefferson County and have them scanned into the WV GeoExplorer History Database.
For more information, contact Doug Perks at: perkssonny9@live.com.
Sunday, April 12, 2015, 2 PM SPRING MEMBERSHIP MEETING Opera House, Charles
Town. Board Member Betsy Wells will speak on Early Ferries Crossing the Shenandoah River.
Monday, April 16, 2015, 7 – 9 PM HOW TO USE THE WEST VIRGINIA
GEOEXPLORER HISTORY DATABASE Perry Room, Charles Town Library. The free, two-hour
session will provide an introductory overview of the GeoExplorer’s content and search features as well as a hands-on
experience using the participant’s laptop. To register, email Doug Perks at: perkssonny9@live.com.
2
unlike many surrounding towns, appears to have fit that bill, a onestop shop in a world that predated Walmart. The sights, smells and
sounds that filled the Shepherdstown streets in those early days
truly must have marveled the senses. The smoke emanating from the
various metal forges, the rhythmic clinking of hammers on anvils
and the rasping draw of wood planes forming walnut, cherry, oak
and mahogany furniture--all spilling onto the streets, must have
been a strong enticement for the frontier homesteaders.
Jefferson County, in the eighteenth century called Frederick
County and later Berkeley County (both in Virginia), was very
much a melting pot of cultures and traditions in those early days.
Sons and daughters of Tidewater planters and farmers who could
not hope to inherit property, or those searching for richer, vaster
lands which hadn’t been depleted by the poor farming practices
associated with the cultivating of the cash crop tobacco in the preagricultural revolution period, poured through the passes in the
Blue Ridge Mountains in places such as Snicker’s Gap, Vestals Gap,
Ashby’s Gap and Harpers Ferry. These settlers set up homesteads
and estates in the model of their English roots.
A second large immigrant contingent also poured into this
Eden-like valley and set up farms and businesses in the northern
and western portions of the county. This new group was of
German origins. In today’s America, with its challenging issues
on immigration, it is hard to fathom a time in which people
were actively recruiting new citizens in distant lands. That was,
however, just the case in the colony of Pennsylvania. Immigrants in
Pennsylvania were very much a mix of people who were being both
pushed and pulled there. War and unrest in the German provinces,
in particular, the Alsace-Lorraine region, created a situation ripe for
William Penn’s great advertising effort to populate his land grant in
America. Penn succeeded in bringing over vast numbers of German
immigrants. Farley Grubb in German Immigration and Servitude in
America, 1709-1920 states,
From 1730 to 1760 German immigrants represented 20 to
30 percent of the population growth in the middle colonies.
Pennsylvanians of German ancestry accounted for 50 to 60
percent of Pennsylvania’s population in 1760. They were a
potent force in shaping the social, economic and political life
of the Mid-Atlantic region.1
John Wayland in The German Element of the Shenandoah
Valley surmises that the period of “1702 to 1727 was epoch making:
between 40,000 and 50,000 came to the Quaker colony.”2 Within
a few generations, this wave of settlement overtaxed the available
land resources, and many new arrivals or younger heirs felt squeezed
out into more distant and promising lands to the west and south,
in places such as the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Daniel Boone
expressed a similar sentiment when he stated that “if he could see
the smoke from his neighbor’s chimney, then it was time to move.”
One such welcoming and commercially viable spot was on the
south bank of the Potomac River, accessible by Pack Horse Ford.
Crossing such a ford was entirely incumbent on cooperating weather,
and some travelers found themselves waiting days to cross flooded
waters. The very act of crossing was a tiring and difficult ordeal,
Jefferson County History For All
The Guardian
is published quarterly (Winter, Spring,
Summer and Fall) by the Jefferson County Historical Society,
P.O. Box 485, Charles Town, WV 25414. Founded in 2003,
the newsletter serves as the organization’s primary means of
informing members and the public of recent and upcoming
events. It also prints pertinent articles related to the history of
the county. Contributions and comments are welcomed. Contact
the editor, Donna Northouse, at dnorthouse@gmail.com. The
newsletters are available on-line (http://jeffersonhistoricalwv.
org/thenewsletter.html) as Adobe Acrobat files.
Correction: Our apologies to Ann Christy, owner of the “crooked
house” on Washington St. in Shepherdstown, for not including her
name under the picture on p. 2 of the Fall issue of The Guardian.
which would leave travelers looking for a rest. As Shepherdstown’s
own Danske Dandridge describes the situation,
A constant stream of coaches, Conestoga wagons, herds of sheep,
cattle, horses and hogs, beside horsemen and foot passengers,
passed daily through the town. No wonder there are so many
old tavern stands in the village, for it was the main route
between south and west. Old residents of Shepherdstown have
told me that their fathers remembered the time when long
lines of vehicles extended from the river as far out as what
is now Elmwood Cemetery, waiting to be ferried across the
Potomac.3
It was perhaps this delay for travelers which enterprising
entrepreneurs seized upon. It may very well be that this is what
early craftsman saw as a ready market ripe for the picking, not to
mention the abundant natural resources lying in vast quantities in
the surrounding area from which to fashion their goods.
While the middle Shenandoah Valley in the region of
Woodstock was the epicenter of German settlement in the Valley,
“Jefferson County can claim roughly 20 percent of its settlement was
of German disbursement.”4 It is this German element which formed
the backbone of Shepherdstown’s artisan class. Samuel Kercheval
in A History of the Valley of Virginia notes that Mecklenburg
(Shepherdstown’s original name) is almost entirely settled by
“German mechanics” or in today’s language, “craftspeople.” While
English names such as Cameron and Posey do find their place in the
crafters rollcall, they are far outweighed by names such as Weis, Craft
(originally spelled Kraft), Entler (also spelled Andler or Endler),
Link, Schindler, Rickard, Sheetz and Woltz. Many of these families
moved into the valley after prior settlements outside Philadelphia
in the counties of Berks, Chester, Delaware, Lancaster and York. To
understand this movement, one must simply review a topographic
map to appreciate the natural progression west and south into the
Shenandoah Valley. To our modern modes of transportation, the
heights of the Blue Ridge Mountains prove little obstacle, but to
our forefathers they were, in fact, as imposing as China’s Great Wall
was to the Mongol horde. Hauling Conestoga wagons, buckboards
and pack mules, loaded down with household goods, building
supplies and grain for spring plantings, was not a task for the faint
of heart. Boulders, stumps, crags and fallen timbers--all could play
havoc with wagon wheels and axels, which when broken would
www.jeffersonhistoricalwv.org
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require great effort to fix in the field. Despite the strength of mules,
oxen and other beasts of burden, the great weight of loaded wagons
(which at times could reach six tons) was a true hindrance to the
westward movement of Tidewater families. In comparison, there
Credit: Conestoga River Crossing by Gary Halvorso, Oregon State Archives
was a natural trough which extended northeastward, which from
time immemorial had been used as a trail by Native Americans.
This natural passage stretched from the port of Philadelphia
to the towns of Lancaster and York in Pennsylvania, to fords at
Mecklenburg and Martinsburg, and south to Winchester, Staunton
and Roanoke. This comparably easier route encouraged trade with
the northern port city of Philadelphia, thus setting up a lasting
connection to the heavily German cultures which existed there. This
connection persisted until the 1830s with the establishments of the
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the soon to follow Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad, which reached Harpers Ferry in 1836. With the
development of this human-made trade route, old ties dwindled
and stronger connections were fostered in which heavy trade was
established with the port city of Baltimore.
Food, shelter, water and clothing, these are the basic necessities
of life. Eighteenth-century pioneer settlement of the region of
Shepherdstown required brave and hearty spirits who could tackle
the never-ending harsh challenges of weather, inadequate healthcare,
substandard housing, poor hygiene, a general feeling of lack of
wherewithal, and the ever-lingering threat of Indian attacks. Life in
the eighteenth century for settlers was crude and basic. The furniture,
homes and clothing created in these challenging times were crafted
through necessity by amateurs with basic tools, giving these objects
a primitive look. As time progressed and the wilderness was tamed
and harnessed into a manageable state, the difficulties of life for the
pioneer eased, allowing for moments of respite. In these moments,
families began to look at the aesthetic aspects of life and longed for
objects where finer attention to detail had been paid. This demand
for skilled labor allowed for the development of the artisan classes,
and a higher standard was set in the valley for finished products. At
the turn of the eighteenth century, with the specialization of artisan
craftsman in the region and the demand set by a ready market, the
door began to close on homemade primitive handicrafts on the
former frontier, setting the stage for Shepherdstown’s role as a trade
Jefferson County History For All
center.
Artistic sharing and collaboration between artisans have always
been an important aspect of the crafting world. Students of particular
crafts often engaged in years of apprenticeship, paying to learn the
required skills of the trade from the master. While Shepherdstown
stopped short of having a defined guild, there was, however, another
bond uniting many of the crafting families in the area. The bond
of marriage played a strong role for many of Shepherdstown’s early
artisans. Examples of this can be seen in the marriage of Henry
Sheetz, gunsmith, to Anne Barbara Woltz, aunt of John Bernard
Woltz, silversmith and clock maker. Other marriages include that of
Conrad Schindler’s daughter to Michael Rickard, a whitesmith and
inventor of the local screw lock. Mary Elizabeth Rickard, daughter
of Michael and Elizabeth Schindler Rickard, married Joseph Entler,
son of Philip Adam Jr and Catherine Welsh Entler. The Entlers
were involved in hotel ownership as well as various other trades,
including carpentry and gun manufacturing. Anna Maria Craft,
daughter of Jacob Craft, clockmaker and silversmith, married Philip
Entler (b. 1765), the son of Johan Michael Entler, who was born in
York, Pennsylvania before moving to Shepherdstown. Both Johan
Michael and Philip worked as blacksmiths and aided James Rumsey
in the construction of his steamboat. In 1833, Maria Christiana
Humrickhouse, daughter of Albert Humrickhouse (owner of the
Boonsboro, Maryland to Winchester, Virginia mail/coach line) and
Elizabeth Weis, of the family of potters, married Smith Hunsicker, a
Shepherdstown silversmith.
These are but a few of the examples of marital ties between
crafting families in Shepherdstown. Many factors may have
accounted for these intermarriages. Attachments were most likely
formed due to the reality of people living in a small town with
limited spouse and traveling options and shared religion, language
and class. There may also have been a more conscious effort for
these families to unite and develop links with those also engaged
in business. In any case, there is no doubt that ninetenth-century
Shepherdstown witnessed a lively artisan community that owes
much to its early German settlers. In future installments, we will
take a closer look at individual contributions.
Endnotes
Farley Grubb, German Immigration and Servitudes in America
(New York: Routledge, 2011), 89.
1
2
John Wayland, The German Element of the Shenandoah Valley
(Bridgewater: C.J. Carrier, 1964), 27.
3
Danske Dandridge, Historic Shepherdstown (Shepherdstown:
Historic Shepherdstown Commission, 1985), 262-3.
4
Wayland, 95.
Samuel Kercheval, A History of the Valley of Virginia
(Harrisonburg: C.J. Carrier), 177.
5
Eric S. Hendricks Jenkins, a twelfth-generation resident of Jefferson
County, serves on the JC Historic Landmarks Commission, teaches
history at Wildwood Middle School, & avidly collects JC treasures.
www.jeffersonhistoricalwv.org
4
Preserving Our History: No. 3 in a series of articles on historic organizations and museums in Jefferson County
The Historic Shepherdstown Commission: An Overview
by Victoria Smith, HSC Board Member &Secretary
The Historic Shepherdstown Commission (HSC) is a
community organization that aims to preserve Shepherdstown’s
unique historical and architectural character and to tell the story of
its people and institutions. These goals are accomplished through
acquisition, preservation and display of Shepherdstown objects
and documents in the Shepherdstown Museum and Archive at
the historic Entler Hotel, through public programs, and through
community-based preservation efforts. A board of volunteers
headed by President Eleanor Finn governs HSC. Administrator
Teresa McLaughlin runs
day-to-day operations.
Current Activities and
Future Plans
year. The Speakers Series, often offered in tandem with the
Jefferson County Historical Society, has featured a variety of
experts. Upcoming speakers include Dr. Karen Gray on Boteler’s
Mill; Matthew Webster, Colonial Willamsburg’s Director of
Architectural Preservation, on Early Crafts in Shepherdstown
and Jefferson County; a panel on local landmarks; and two
sessions with Shepherd’s Dr. Keith Alexander and his students,
one on the Shepherd cemetery and one on the Red Sox oral
history project. Dates and locations will be announced in the local
papers. Since 2011, HSC and JCHS
have cooperated on annual workshops
on Jefferson County in the Civil War. In
addition, museum docents offer special
tours to student groups, especially from
Shepherdstown Elementary School, and
other organizations.
HSC is working
with the Corporation
of Shepherdstown to
restore the Shepherd
In 2015, HSC and the Rumseian
Family Cemetery on New
Society, builders and owners of the halfStreet. Shepherd family
scale model of James Rumsey’s steamboat
members have maintained
located in the Entler Hotel’s garden, plan
it for years, but wall
to give the steamboat an institutional
restoration is beyond
home with HSC. The Rumseians will
their resources. The goal
transfer the steamboat to HSC ownership
is to make the cemetery a
but will continue to be involved in
Eleanor Finn, Teresa McLaughlin & the Historic Jefferson County RFD Mail
place where townspeople
maintaining and explaining it.
Cart, one of the first in the USA
and visitors can enjoy a peaceful setting and experience a piece
of Shepherdstown's earliest history reflected in the stories of the Membership and Volunteers
town's founding family. The Shepherds played important roles Volunteers created HSC with their time, talents and financial
in the town for multiple generations. In addition to organizing support. HSC continues to depend almost entirely on members’
a cleanup involving considerable hard work and effort from financial support to maintain and upgrade the museum and
HSC and other community members, HSC has applied for and present programs. Minimum dues are $25/person. The HSC
received grants from the Henry and Louise Willard Fund and the administrator manages the building and the finances, but
Two Rivers Giving Circle, both under the auspices of the Eastern volunteers make the programs and museum activities happen.
West Virginia Community Foundation, and from the Shepherd HSC recruits from both Shepherdstown itself and the wider
Family Foundation. Also, funds from a bequest from the estate community. Volunteer opportunities abound for people who
of Elizabeth Shepherd Scott and gifts in her name have been want to help preserve an old building, create museum exhibits,
reserved for cemetery work. With these funds, one of the seriously welcome museum visitors, maintain order in the archive, and
deteriorating cemetery walls has already been restored. More work in many other areas. New members and volunteers are
restoration is planned for this spring.
always needed and welcome. Anyone who wants to join or
In addition to the cemetery project, HSC is working with volunteer may e-mail or call Teresa McLaughlin at info@
Shepherd University’s Professor Keith Alexander on an oral historicshepherdstown.com/304-876-0910., who is in the office
history project on the Shepherdstown Red Sox, the local African- on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
American baseball team from the 1930s through the 1960s.
That project will provide the underpinning for a future museum
exhibit on the Red Sox. Also in the works is an exhibit describing
the Shepherd family’s contributions to the town’s history, though
considerable work is still to be done on that, too.
HSC provides a rich series of free public programs each
Jefferson County History For All
How It All Began
HSC was founded in 1961 but really hit its stride when it
embarked on saving and restoring the historic Entler Hotel in
the 1970s and 1980s. Shepherdstown citizens came together to
support this project by lobbying the West Virginia legislature
and governor to deed the building to the Corporation of
www.jeffersonhistoricalwv.org
5
Shepherdstown. The Corporation then
leased the building to HSC, which
commenced a multi-year project to
restore the badly deteriorated building.
With many, many hours of volunteer
labor, HSC made the building usable
and created the Historic Shepherdstown
Museum. Care of a building as old as
the Entler never ends. In the 1990s and
in 2010-2012, major restoration efforts
were undertaken. The Corporation of
Shepherdstown generously underwrote
the 2010-2012 restoration. Office and
reception room rentals help support
building maintenance.
visitors from all over the world. The
museum is open weekends from April
to October and by appointment.
The archive, which contains
photos, document collections, and
genealogical material, is also available
by appointment.
Publications
HSC has preserved some precious
Shepherdstown books, reprinting
Danske
Dandridge’s
Historic
(l to r) Washington High student Holly Kidwiler, art teacher
Shepherdstown as well as Clifford
Jessica Ring, students Tyler Kisner & Marin Chew, & art
Musser’s History of Shepherdstown,
teacher Laura Borkholder with student-made quilt based on
Aunt Sally’s Baltimore quilt (both hang in HSC museum)
and printing the first, second, and
third editions of See Shepherdstown.
To create the museum, community
With
HSC
support,
volunteers
have created a free walking
members generously donated many priceless local items.
tour
booklet,
most
recently
updated
in 2014 and also available
Volunteers spent countless hours cataloguing and organizing
online.
It
includes
an
excellent
brief
history
of the town. Most
those items and running the museum like professionals. The task
recently,
HSC
arranged
for
production
of
a DVD of Jim
is ongoing. In 2007-2008, the museum displays were updated, and
Price’s 2014 Speakers Series talk, Strange As It Seems: Actual
new displays are upcoming. Over the more than thirty years since
Happenings in Shepherdstown. The books and the DVD may
the museum opened in 1983, volunteer docents of all ages—from
be ordered from HSC’s website, www.historicshepherdstown.
17 to 90+—have told the fascinating stories of Shepherdstown’s
com, and are available in the museum when it is open.
history and of the Entler Hotel to local children, townspeople and
Out and About...
Society Represented at the Museum of the the Shenandoah Valley Festival
Saturday, January 31st, the sun finally came out full blast,
after hiding behind clouds for days. Besides seeing the sun, those
attending the annual Heritage Festival at the spacious Museum of
the Shenandoah Valley were treated to exposure to over a dozen
historical associations located in the valley. The only outsider (and
an important one at that) was the National Archives, which sent
three representatives to distribute information about what the
archives holds, what it considers for donation, and how to navigate
its vast geneological holdings.
Board Members Doug Perks, Curt Mason, Jim Glymph and
Donna Northouse represented JCHS. One visitor to the booth
was Robert Frye, vice-president of the Shenandoah County
Historical Association. Robert, Doug and Jim talked on end
about all the friends and acquaintances they have in common(see
picture). Robert himself has close ties with Jefferson County since
his ancestors, the Henkle family, have roots here.
Collaboration with WV GeoExplorer Project
JCHS recently contributed $500 to be used to match other
grants to digitize back issues of local newspapers like the Spirit of
Jefferson, Virginia Free Press, and the Shepherdstown Register. The
newspapers will be added to the GeoExplorer database in the near
future.
Jefferson County History For All
by Donna Northouse
Robert Frye, v-p of the Shenandoah County Historic Ass., D. Perks & J. Glymph
Back Issues of the Magazine Available
JCHS is in the process of digitizing its Magazine of The
Jefferson County Historical Society. These volumes are now available
for purchase: 1940, 1952 and 1991 through 2014. The society is
using Google Books Partner Program and Google Play (Books)
to sell them. To purchase a digital copy of the Magazine, go to the
Google web link, https://play.google.com/store/books, or go to
http://jeffersonhistoricalwv.org/magazinearchives.html where you
may download instructions. As more volumes of the Magazine are
digitized, announcements will be made in The Guardian. Many
thanks go to Board Member Donald Watts for the many, many hours
he has dedicated to this project.
www.jeffersonhistoricalwv.org
6
MR. JEFFERSON’S COUNTY
By Doug Perks
A Road for All Seasons
Several weeks ago, I sat in White Church (the Middleway
Community Center) listening to David Bullock talk about old
roads in the vicinity of Middleway. His presentation triggered
memories of the many country roads which we have here in Mr.
Jefferson’s County. For me, these old roads are a constant source
of pleasure.
These old byways are much more than just a means to get
quickly from point A to point B. One of my favorite pastimes
is driving back roads. After I spend time looking at both old
photographs of streetscapes and viewscapes of Mr. Jefferson’s
County and old maps, particularly S. Howell Brown’s 1852 Map
of Jefferson County, Virginia, I often drive on one of these old
roads, and it becomes a tangible connection to the past. The trip
is somewhat like working a puzzle: matching a piece from the
present to its counterpart from the past, locating old buildings,
determining the camera’s angle, and finding clues which might tell
when the photograph was taken. As I continue my exploration of
Mr. Jefferson’s County, these old roads are as important to me as
books, maps and photographs. Nothing can replace walking, or
driving, in the footsteps of history.
Just as today, our first roads were purposeful. Using well-worn,
established access points across both the Shenandoah and Potomac
Rivers, the Virginia General Assembly authorized the construction
and maintenance of several “public roads.” The intent of these
roads was first and foremost to facilitate early commerce. It was
most important to “make it easy” for early farmers to bring their
grain to commercial mills for processing. Not less important was
to create roads which connected new Shenandoah Valley settlers
to their seat of government at Frederick Town, now Winchester.
By example, our first roads connected Pack Horse Ford to
Thomas Shepherd’s mill on Falling Spring Branch. A road left
Shenandoah Falls at Robert Harper’s Ferry and proceeded up the
Valley to Worthington’s mill and Captain Cherry’s tavern. As the
Lower Valley became more densely populated, these and other
roads meandered north and south, east and west across the county,
connecting this rich farmland to markets in Alexandria and
Baltimore. Along the way, churches, stores and taverns sprouted,
each providing services necessary for a civilized society, all taking
advantage of the access provided by these early roads.
My favorite of these early roads appears on the 1751 Map
of the most Inhabited Part of Virginia,1 prepared by Joshua Fry
and Peter Jefferson (Thomas Jefferson’s father). Originating in
Alexandria, the road ventured west through then Fairfax County
to the Blue Ridge of Mountains, crossing the mountains at Vestal’s
Jefferson County History For All
Gap. From John Vestal’s ferry on the Shenandoah River, the road
worked its way southwest to Frederick Town, or Winchester.
This is the route that then Lieutenant Colonel George
Washington followed in the spring of 1754, as he led the
Virginia Regiment “towards the Ohio, there to help Captain
Trent to build Forts, and to defend the Possessions of his Majesty
against the Attempts and Hostilities of the French.”2 When
Washington submitted his expenses incurred on the expedition,
he noted, “8 April – To Bacon for [the regiment of ] John Vestal
at Shanandoah [sic] & Ferriages over 1.9.0.”3 The regiment left
Vestal’s and marched to Frederick Town, after its safe passage
across the Shenandoah, and from thence to the Ohio country
and its encounter with the French.
At the turn of the nineteenth century, evidence of continued
growth in the Lower Valley is very apparent when you look at
Charles Varle’s Map of Frederick, Berkeley, and Jefferson Counties
in the State of Virginia, executed in 1809. The new county of
Jefferson was described for the first time. Its seat of government
Charleston [sic]4 was now at the hub of a network of roads and
surrounded by a growing number of towns and villages.
Soon after ferrying Washington and his regiment across the
Shenandoah, John Vestal sold his ferry operation to Gersham
Keyes. Keyes and his family continued the ferry operation for
several decades. In 1809, the road from Alexandria crossed the
gap in the Blue Ridge, now named for the Keyes family. At this
time its journey led it farther west, connecting Martinsburg with
Alexandria, and even farther west to the Warm Springs at the
foot of Spring Ridge. Thus was born the Alexandria and Warm
Springs Road.
The 1820 John Woods map of Jefferson County shows
the unlabeled Alexandria and Warm Springs Road heading
almost due west, connecting Key’s (Keye’s) Ferry to the western
boundary of Jefferson County. Along the way, the road passed
by farms owned by John Yates and the Baylor family, as well as
Traveler’s Rest, the home of Revolutionary War General Horatio
Gates. At its intersection with the Shepherdstown to Smithfield
Turnpike (Kearneysville Pike), two buildings are noted – one of
which was a tavern operated by Casper Walper.
By mid-century, when S. Howell Brown’s 1852 map of
Jefferson County was printed, the Alexandria and Warm Springs
Road followed pretty much the route that we know today. On
the 1852 S. Howell Brown map, when the road heads west from
Keye’s Ferry, it forks approximately one mile west of the ferry.
The south fork, leading to Charles Town (what is today CR 26
Keyes Ferry Road) is, I think, mislabeled Alexandria and Warm
Springs Road. I think that the north fork, which continues west,
is the correct Alexandria and Warm Springs Road. If you follow
that road, it leads to the boundary of Jefferson and Berkeley
Counties, where the road is correctly labeled Alexandria and
Warm Springs Road.
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7
As a result of our twenty-first-century society, only a small
segment of the Alexandria and Warm Springs Road officially exists
today. In 2001, Jefferson County began a re-addressing project,
and many roads, including the Alexandria and Warm Springs
Road, were renamed. The project was completed in 2008. Today
only three and a half miles of
the old road which originally
stretched from the port city
of Alexandria, Virginia, to the
healing waters at Bath, now
Berkeley Springs, bears any
semblance of its old name. Now
it is simply called Warm Springs
Road, officially CR 48/2.
vehicle. Although the posted speed limit is an optimistic 35 miles
per hour, keep in mind that this road was laid out for carts and
carriages, and only a wagon with a runaway team approached that
speed. This road follows the contour of the land as it angles around
the boundaries of neighboring farms.
just east of T. A. Lowery Elementary School and the Kearneysville
Pike at Walper’s Crossroad. Not only is the name pretty much the
same, but the road twists and turns much as it did on S. Howell
Brown’s 1852 map. This is an old wagon road.
2Donald Jackson, Editor. The Diaries of George Washington.
Volume I, 1748-65 (Charlottesville: University of
Virginia
Press, 1976), 174.
Center lines and fog lines are absent on this road, and there
is sometimes a long interval between necessary road repairs.
Along its path, there are places where you feel the need to slow
and move to the right when you are approached by an oncoming
4Ironic that Charles Town is misspelled Charleston on Varle’s
map. This is not the first time or will not be the last time for this
error.
Byways like Warm Springs
Road provide us the
opportunity to connect with
the past. When possible, drive
with your windows down.
You’ll be rewarded with the
sights, smells and sounds of
Mr. Jefferson’s County from
yesteryear. In the spring, as
Although the old route
you pass newly tilled fields,
of the Alexandria and Warm
you will be rewarded with the
Springs Road is roughly still in
aroma of the warming earth.
place, a change of name is not
As the spring advances, you
the only modification which it
get to see the first blush of
has endured. If you start today
green as the seeds begin to
at Keye’s Ferry, you’ll find your
germinate and grow. There are
way obstructed by the Millville
still a few working farms along
Quarry which now sits astride
Warm Springs Road, and in
the old road. You’ll discover
summer you haven’t lived
intersection of Warm Springs Rd (formerly the old Alexandria & Warm Spring Rd)
what was once the Alexandria The
until you smell the bouquet of
and Luther Jones Rd
and Warm Springs Road at the
new mown hay. The farming
intersection of Keyes Ferry Road and Marlow Road, with Marlow sounds are everywhere – the chug of a tractor’s engine, neighing
Road, which continues onto the Harper’s Ferry – Charlestown horses, and mooing cattle. Fall brings its own gifts – the smoke
– Smithfield Turnpike, now called Route 340. This is the route and smell of burning leaves and the buzz of a chainsaw as someone
of the old road. Where Marlow Road intersects with Route 340, prepares for the upcoming cold. In winter, with windows up, you
gone is old Schaeffer’s Crossroads and its familiar windmill.
occasionally hear the crunch that tires make as they plow through
the snow. Almost everywhere is the familiar fragrance of wood
After crossing over Route 340, the old road becomes, first,
smoke.
Old Country Club Road on the east of Flowing Springs Road and
Daniel’s Road on the west. At the time of his death in 1852, John This and others like it are roads for all seasons, roads to
Yates owned much of the land south of Old Country Club and experience. To really get to know Mr. Jefferson’s County, take a
Daniel’s Roads. His home was Walnut Grove, no longer standing. leisurely Sunday drive on Warm Springs Road. Just remember, if
His holdings were divided among his children, each with a farm. you get behind a silver Toyota with West Virginia license HISTRY,
Media, one of the farms, still remains today and is bracketed by 25 mph is tops, and it will slow down for each and every hill and
Flowing Springs and Daniel’s Roads. At last, when Daniel’s Road curve. Enjoy the drive!
intersects the Shenandoah Junction Road, we finally get to Warm
Endnotes
Springs Road.
1
Each of the maps referenced in this article are available on
Nowadays, Warm Springs Road, formerly the Alexandria and the
WV
GeoExplorer webpage, http://www.wvgeohistory.org/
Warm Springs Road, is framed by the Shenandoah Junction Road
Jefferson County History For All
Jackson. The Diaries of George Washington, 175-176.
3
www.jeffersonhistoricalwv.org
THE GUARDIAN
Non Profit Org.
U.S. Postage
Jefferson County Historical Society
P.O. Box 485
Charles Town, WV 25414
PAID
Charles Town, WV
Permit No. 10
SPRING ME MBER SHIP MEETING
Sunday, April 12, 2 p.m.
Opera House, Charles Town
Presentation by
Board Member
Betsy Wells
Ferries Crossing the Shenandoah
River Before the Building of the
Original Route 9 Bridge
JOIN THE JEFFERSON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY TODAY!!!
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Address
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Email Address
 Annual Membership: $20  Life Membership: $400
Mail check to:
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PO Box 485
Charles Town, WV 25414
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