James Rumsey

Jay Hurley said the crewmen responsible for the maintenance and operation of The Rumseian Experiment, a half-scale working replica of James Rumsey's steamboat, are growing older. He is looking for a few mechanically inclined people interested in working with him on the steamboat and, perhaps, someday taking over the reins. Otherwise, he said it's possible the boat might not float again after next year and instead be relegated permanently to its museum. For more information, call Hurley at 304-876-6907.

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - Construction on the new James Rumsey bridge over the Potomac River is expected to begin in the fall, according to the West Virginia Department of Transportation. An informational meeting about the bridge's design will be held between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Jan. 25 at the Clarion Hotel and Conference Center in Shepherdstown, transportation officials said. Attendees will have the opportunity to fill out comment cards about the project. Design of the two-lane bridge should be finished this spring, said Joseph T. Deneault, an engineer with the state's Division of Highways.

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - Even though he was credited with putting the first steamboat into operation here, James Rumsey's accomplishment lives largely in obscurity. Rumsey even died without a trace. The inventor was buried in a pauper's cemetery somewhere in London without a stone to mark his resting place, said Shepherdstown resident Jay Hurley. But a group of Shepherdstown residents say it's time to give Rumsey his due, and the recognition will come in the form of a three-day celebration next July.

charlestown@herald-mail.com Highway crews have been taking precautions to protect equipment and construction sites at several highway projects in the Eastern Panhandle in anticipation of Hurricane Isabel, a state highways spokesman said Wednesday. On the northern third of Interstate 81 in Berkeley County, long lines of plastic orange barrels are being removed from the side of the road, said Bill Shanklin, area engineer for the state Division of Highways. The barrels are being placed behind guardrails or in ditches along the interstate to keep them from blowing across the interstate in high winds, Shanklin said.

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - With a wave of a tricorn hat from the crew, the hundreds of people gathered on the banks of the Potomac River applauded the successful demonstration of the Rumseian Experiment. Probably much like the original, the replica of one of the first steamboats had trouble getting started Saturday afternoon. But after several minutes, the 900-pound, 1.5 horsepower steam engine was up and running. It pushed the 24-foot boat and its nine passengers around the river and under the bridge named for James Rumsey, whose invention is being celebrated this weekend in Shepherdstown.

waynesboro@herald-mail.com Gordon Cassells was wearing a hat decked out "in drag. " It was draped with a woman's pink garter and a red garter belt. "Hat decorations are highly individual," said the 47-year-old Shepherdstown resident, one of dozens of Morris dancers who pranced down German Street to the James Rumsey park where they wrapped a maypole. Participants in Shepherdstown's annual May Day celebration said they consider the event a rite of spring, a harbinger of the summer to come.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - Paul Pritchard thinks an impressive history of transportation in Shepherdstown, W.Va., and surrounding areas is waiting to be told. The obvious points of interest would be sites like Pack Horse Ford, a spot on the Potomac River near Shepherdstown where Indians and Civil War soldiers crossed the river. First settlers in Virginia used Pack Horse Ford to cross the river and transported their valuables on "pack horses. " Or Harpers Ferry, W.Va., where Robert Harper operated a ferry service across the Shenandoah River in the 1700s, and the Potomac River in Shepherdstown where steamboat inventor James Rumsey tested his craft.

candiceb@herald-mail.com SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.VA. - A yellowing brochure describes steamboat inventor James Rumsey as "engineer, builder, inventor, dreamer. " Most of those adjectives also could be used to describe Jay Hurley, who has spent several years building an airplane, is debating building an electric car and helped to build a half-scale replica of Rumsey's circa-1787 steamboat. At first, building a steamboat might not sound like too impressive of a feat.

James Rumsey Bridge open through 2003 By DAVE McMILLION / Staff Writer, Charles Town SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - A state Division of Highways official vowed Tuesday to keep the existing James Rumsey bridge open through 2003 when the new bridge is expected to be opened. The highways department said last week that if the current bridge across the Potomac River continues to deteriorate, highway officials may be forced to limit commercial traffic on the bridge. In a worse-case scenario, the bridge could be closed completely if deterioration of the bridge continues at a fast pace, said highways department spokesman Ben Hark.

A Culinary Arts/Pro-Start open house will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, May 30, at James Rumsey Technical Institute, 3274 Hedgesville Road, Martinsburg. Visitors will have the opportunity to view Culinary Arts student projects and sample dishes at culinary stations including Italy cafe, chefs' cuisine, pasta, outdoor barbecue, pastry and bake shop, ice carving, ice cream shoppe and molecular gastronomy. Admission is free. For more information, call 304-754-7925.

The 2012 James Rumsey Technical Institute graduation ceremony was held Friday night in the Hedgesville High School auditorium. This is a “particularly good class,” school Principal/Director Vicki Jenkins said. “They came with a purpose.” About 110 full-time students graduated this year, Jenkins said. Clifford Arntz, the electromechanical technology I instructor, said that many of the older students are displaced workers. Dale Collene Scully, 57, of Berkeley Springs, W.Va., was the top student of the Culinary Arts program.

About 115 post-secondary school graduates from James Rumsey Technical Institute heard Tina Combs recite her "baker's dozen tips for living a successful life" Friday evening.  Combs, executive director of the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Chamber of Commerce, read off a litany of advice from her list that began with, "Don't measure success by the size of your bank account...," followed by, "Never stop dreaming..., Believe in yourself..., Do what you love..., Live with humility..., Never stop learning...," plus seven more.

Rodney Merchant could not have imagined when he graduated as a machinist in 1974 that one day he'd be back in the same classroom machine shop judging a statewide precision machine competition. But on Saturday, Merchant was back at James Rumsey Technical Institute, this time looking over the shoulders of five high school students competing in the 2011 SkillsUSA competition. Merchant, 55, of Martinsburg, W.Va., and his students were among more than 600 high school and adult student contestants in Hedgesville this weekend competing in nearly 40 career courses, said Vicki Jenkins, director of the regional technical school on W.Va.

HEDGESVILLE, W.VA. ? West Virginia's superintendent of public schools had "the adults" leave the room Friday at James Rumsey Technical Institute, where students from eight counties were assembled for a forum on 21st-century learning. "We'll ask all the adults to leave the room, 'cause we want some straight answers from ya," Steven L. Paine told the group of about 20 middle and high school students. What he and his staff heard from Jefferson, Berkeley, Morgan, Hampshire, Mineral, Hardy, Grant and Pendleton county students will be compiled with feedback received at three other regional forums Paine has held since Jan. 16 as part of the state's 21st Century Learning Initiative, a comprehensive effort to upgrade its education system.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - Paul Pritchard thinks an impressive history of transportation in Shepherdstown, W.Va., and surrounding areas is waiting to be told. The obvious points of interest would be sites like Pack Horse Ford, a spot on the Potomac River near Shepherdstown where Indians and Civil War soldiers crossed the river. First settlers in Virginia used Pack Horse Ford to cross the river and transported their valuables on "pack horses. " Or Harpers Ferry, W.Va., where Robert Harper operated a ferry service across the Shenandoah River in the 1700s, and the Potomac River in Shepherdstown where steamboat inventor James Rumsey tested his craft.

candiceb@herald-mail.com SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.VA. - A yellowing brochure describes steamboat inventor James Rumsey as "engineer, builder, inventor, dreamer. " Most of those adjectives also could be used to describe Jay Hurley, who has spent several years building an airplane, is debating building an electric car and helped to build a half-scale replica of Rumsey's circa-1787 steamboat. At first, building a steamboat might not sound like too impressive of a feat.

Jay Hurley said the crewmen responsible for the maintenance and operation of The Rumseian Experiment, a half-scale working replica of James Rumsey's steamboat, are growing older. He is looking for a few mechanically inclined people interested in working with him on the steamboat and, perhaps, someday taking over the reins. Otherwise, he said it's possible the boat might not float again after next year and instead be relegated permanently to its museum. For more information, call Hurley at 304-876-6907.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - A group of two adults, eight excited children and one unhappy boy in a Spider-Man outfit made footsteps of history under a hot sun Friday afternoon. They were the first people to walk across the new James Rumsey Bridge in Shepherdstown when it opened to traffic a few minutes after 3 p.m. "It's pretty cool to know that my grandpa went on that old bridge when it was first built and now I'm on this bridge," Samantha Yates, 10, said as she was about halfway across.