Crime Scene and Trauma Cleanup in Shepherdstown, WV

Shepherdstown is a town in Jefferson County, West Virginia, in the upper Shenandoah Valley along the Potomac River, and is home to Shepherd University.

Established on December 23, 1762, Shepherdstown shares with Romney the distinction of being one of the two oldest towns in West Virginia.

Thomas Shepherd received a grant of 222 acres in 1734 and laid out the town, first named Mecklenburg, along the Falling Spring Branch, now known as Town Run.

The town's name was changed to Shepherd's Town in 1798 and was contracted to Shepherdstown after the Civil War.

In July 1775, riflemen under Captain Hugh Stephenson departed from near Shepherdstown on the famous Bee Line March, covering about 600 miles in 24 days in response to George Washington's call for Virginia volunteer riflemen.

On December 3, 1787, James Rumsey gave a successful demonstration of his steamboat on the Potomac River at Shepherdstown.

After the Battle of Antietam in September 1862, Shepherdstown was overwhelmed with thousands of wounded soldiers, the Battle of Shepherdstown was fought during Lee's retreat on September 20, 1862, and Elmwood Cemetery holds the graves of 285 Confederate veterans.

Shepherdstown served as the seat of Jefferson County from 1865 to 1871 while the courthouse in Charles Town was repaired from war damage.

Shepherd University began in 1872, when the town hall building was chartered as a classical and scientific institute and leased to the state as Shepherd College; it became Shepherd University in 2004, and its campuses occupy a large part of the town.

Shepherdstown is the only town in West Virginia with a Chesapeake and Ohio Canal lock named for it, Lock 38, the Shepherdstown River Lock, across the Potomac in Maryland.