Just Jefferson

Civil War Sesquicentennial Hotspot:
1400 Days of War

Jim Surkamp Creates

Jefferson County, West Virginia is arguably the most historic rural county in the United States with 100 armed conflicts in the Civil War, the place of John Brown's Raid, and as the ancestral home county of two of George Washington's brothers, assorted nephews and the last three owners of Mt. Vernon. "Country Roads," John Denver's classic, was inspired in part by a visit to Harper's Ferry during a search for the Appalachian Trail. ("Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah River" as the song says only describes one county in West Virginia - Jefferson County).

Tours of Harper's Ferry, Charles Town, Shepherdstown, and Antietam National Battlefield

"History is what we forgot to throw away or remembered to keep"

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View Just Jefferson History Videos by Jim Surkamp in a larger map

If you click on the link below this map, you will see 78 placement markers each representing an interesting video about the following topics. So click on one and watch!
To center the video screen for a full view move its place marker to the center and very bottom of the map area before clicking on the place marker.

  • Shepherdstown's Beeline March to Boston - 1775
  • Shepherdstown - Poet-Gardener Danske Dandridge
  • Racetrack Site in 1790
  • Where Shepherdstown's Fountain Rock Burned -
  • The Courthouse in Charles Town of John Brown
  • Where Shepherdstown's Bedford Mansion Torched
  • James Rumsey's 1st Steamboat Tried 1784
  • Baseball Great Hack Wilson Hit Huge One
  • The Legendary Folly
  • Blair Mt. Miners Trial Jail Charles Town, WV 1921
  • John Brown Hanged Here 1859
  • Scott Fitzgerald's Charles Town Pal Peale Bishop
  • Last Washington To Own Mt. Vernon is Buried Here
  • John Yates Beall - Civil War's Great Untold Story
  • Lakeland Caverns Under Charles Town
  • The John Brown Kiss That Wasn't
  • Harpers Ferry Flood 1870
  • Peter Stephens - Harpers Ferry First Settler
  • George Washington Enters County To Survey 1747
  • George Washington W/Buddies Happy Retreat 1784
  • Stonewall Jackson's Train Trick- 1861
  • Actress Mary Tyler Moore's Ancestors
  • Antietam's Bloody Cornfield
  • Antietam Turning Point of the Civil War
  • Antietam - Prelude to Crossroads
  • Gen. J. E. B. Stuart's Silver Spurs
  • Site of The Money Tree and Lost Gold
  • Shepherd U. Helen Hunter Writes Home
  • Shepherdstown Antietam's Hospital Town
  • History of Horse Racing in Charles Town
  • Col. Mosby's Greenback Raid - 1864
  • History of The County Fair
  • Shannondale Springs Jousting and Ring Contests
  • Thomas Shepherd's Mill - 1734
  • Site of Children's Haven Mom/Pop Wheeler
  • Mr. Waddy's Railroad Station Kingdom
  • Birthplace of the NAACP
  • Osborne Anderson - The Raider Who Got Away
  • George Washington's Masonic Cave
  • Gen. Adam Stephen's First Home Here 1751
  • Turkey Hunting in 1862 - Opequon Creek
  • J.E.B. Stuart's Men and The Bower - 1862
  • Battle of Shepherdstown - 1862
  • Gen. Sheridan's HQ - 1864
  • Day-Long Cavalry Duel Begins - 1864
  • John Wesley Culp of Gettysburg Lived Here
  • William L. Reinheart Wounded Waited 1862
  • George Caton Common Hero/Soldier
  • Father of RFD Mail - 1890s Home
  • Page-Jackson Remembered
  • Shepherdstown May Day - 1850s
  • Shepherdstown's Great Sleigh Ride Ends at
  • Ben Fishes W/ Dad - 1920
  • Peter Burr House oldest frame structure in WV
  • The Region's Breadbasket - 1890s
  • Great Apple Boomtimes - 1870s-1940s
  • Johnsontown Freed Black Community - Cooking
  • Patsy Cline's Star Is Born - Rainbow Lounge
  • The Legend of Wizard Clip and The Voice
  • The Perturbed Ghost of Ike Stipp
  • Frontier Iron-Making
  • History of Hay-Making - Swing That Scythe
  • Making Apple Cider The Old Fashioned Way
  • We Salute The Hog
  • Lindbergh's Favorite Mechanic Roy Hooe
  • The Worst Drought - 1930
  • The Shenandoah - Daughter of the Stars
  • EvenThe Gypsies Had Cars- Shepherdstown, 1921

Jefferson County People Through Time: 354 Photos
286 More Photos
363 More Photos
(Please wait a moment for files to download).
Copyright, 2003, James T. Surkamp
by permission from the Jefferson County Museum, Dana Spitzer, Jefferson County Society for the Preservation of Black History,Shepherd College, Gordie Clark and family, the Funkhouser family, Margie Blostone, and the Waddy/Hartman families.

The Land Where We Were Dreamin': A People's History of Jefferson County
Copyright, 2002, Jim Surkamp. Cover art, pastel entitled "Harewood" courtesy Diana Suttenfield

Six More Websites by Jim Surkamp
About Jefferson County People
(Design of Funkhouser, Timeline, and Immortal Essence by
baddaddesign.com)
(Click on Image)

The Washingtons of Jefferson County