Return to Overview Map
Visit a section of river between Little Pool and Antietam...
Fort Frederick, Md.
Williamsport, Md.
Antietam Battlefield
Shepherdstown, W.Va.
|
A granite column overlooking the river in Shepherdstown is dedicated to James Rumsey, the Potomac's own pioneer of steam navigation. Rumsey was born in Cecil County, Maryland in 1743, and moved to the town of Bath, Virginia (now Berkeley Springs, West Virginia) in 1782. He built an inn and general store as well as other buildings and mills. George Washington named him chief engineer of the fledgling Patowmack Navigation Company, an attempt to promote navigation in the upper Potomac and open the West. Rumsey helped design the locks of the Patowmack Canal at Great Falls.
In 1785, Rumsey moved his workshop to Shepherdstown and built a boat with an engine that was powered by steam. On December 3, 1787, Rumsey successfully demonstrated the boat against the current of the Potomac at Shepherdstown, 20 years before Robert Fulton's effort. In search of financing, Rumsey traveled to Philadelphia and England, where he built a 100-foot prototype of the steamboat. Unfortunately, he died suddenly after appearing before a London business group, and his competitor Robert Fulton-who demonstrated his boat on the Hudson River and got far more publicity-received credit for the first steamboat.
Today, the Rumseian Society, a Shepherdstown-based group interested in redeeming the reputation of the inventor, has built a half-size working replica of Rumsey's Potomac steamboat. The key ingredient of Rumsey's boat was a water-tube boiler, which powered a piston to drive water through a box and out the stern of the boat. The boiler became a world standard for steam engines, even though others got the credit for the first steamboat. The model is on display at the James Rumsey Steamboat Museum, located next to the Visitors Center.
|
