Shepherdstown, Virginia (Howe)

Shepherdstown is situated on the Potomac, in the northwestern part of the county, 5 miles north of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, and about 12 miles above Harper's Ferry. It was established by law in November, 1762, laid off by Capt. Thomas Shepherd, and named Mecklenburg: its first settlers were German mechanics. It contains 6 or 8 mercantile stores, 3 merchant mills, 1 Episcopal, 1 Presbyterian, 1 German-Reformed, and 1 Lutheran church, and a population of about 1,600. There is a small stream, of considerable fall, which runs through the town, immediately opposite to which is an inlet-lock to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. This town is remarkable as being the place where the first steamboat was constructed and navigated.