James Rumsey

Morgan County · W. Va. 9 and W. Va. 38 at Berkeley Springs. · location approximate

Here, 1782-1785, lived James Rumsey, miller, innkeeper, and inventor of the steamboat. He demonstrated a model of his boat before Washington, 1784. He continued his experiments here and elsewhere until his public demonstration of 1787.

1937 text, presented as a historical document. It uses the period's terms for Native and Black people, and tells frontier history from the settler's side.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

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Marker data: State Road Commission of West Virginia, West Virginia Historic and Scenic Highway Markers (1937), text by Ross B. Johnston

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