Address: 129 E German Street
Phone: 304-876-0910
E-mail: info@historicshepherdstown.com
Web Site: www.historicshepherdstown.com
Proprietor: Cindy Schott, director
Hours: Sat 11-5, Sun 1-4
The Historic Shepherdstown Museum is located in the Entler Hotel, at the corner of Princess and East German Street in Shepherdstown. In 1983 the Historic Shepherdstown Museum was founded to preserve and display artifacts, furniture, and historic documents that might otherwise have been lost.
The first floor of the museum holds the dining and sitting chambers. An invitation to a dinner at the Entler in honor of Colonel John Francis Hamtramck in 1847 sets the tone.
The downstairs is also the place where books about Shepherdstown, its people and its history are for sale. Upstairs there is a room furnished as an old hotel bedroom. It is in this bedroom that the hotel’s resident ghost, William Payton Smith is said to sometimes spend the night.
Smith engaged in a duel in the summer of 1809 with a friend and was mortally wounded in the exchange of fire. He was brought to the Entler Hotel and died of his wounds in a few hours.
There are five rooms on the second and third floors containing local artifacts such as Sheetz rifles, a Conrad Schindler (Mary Tyler Moore’s great-great-great grandfather) copper kettle, a 1905 mail wagon, and American Indian tools, and Civil War artifacts and exhibits.
The museum has also been responsible for having books reprinted that are a major source of history of the area. These are on sale at the museum, by mail, and at some local stores. For a list of these books and other items, go to our http://historicshepherdstown.com/store.htm.
The museum is open from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm on Saturdays and 1:00 to 4:00 pm on Sundays from April through October and the two weeks of Christmas in Historic Shepherdstown. Admission is $4 for Adults, students and children free. Tell them you visited the Museum’s website and receive half off your admission.
The Museum also has an Archives Room available for those who wish to do historical and genealogical research. The Archives are open Monday and Wednesday 9:30 – 12:00 noon by appointment. For a partial listings of the archives’ holdings, visit http://historicshepherdstown.com/archives.htm
To arrange for special group tours any time of the year, to volunteer for the Museum’s docent program, or to make an appointment to visit the archives room, call Cindy Schott at 304.876.0910 or email at hsc86@citlink.net
Special for the Arts & Humanities Weekend
The History of Jefferson County (with examples of its historic homes), an animated PowerPoint Presentation
An animated PowerPoint presentation developed by local resident Curt Mason will be shown at the Historic Shepherdstown Museum. Highlights of Jefferson County’s rich history are interspersed in chronological order with illustrations of many of the county’s most significant historic homes and other buildings. Shown in a “before and after” format, the viewer may compare images from the past to photographs illustrating current conditions and settings. The “tour” will be repeated throughout the day and runs about 40 minutes in its entirety.