The James Rumsey Monument, also known as Rumsey Monument Park, is a municipal park and former West Virginia state park in Shepherdstown, Jefferson County in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The park overlooks the Potomac River. It commemorates local inventor James Rumsey and his successful public demonstration of his steamboat invention on the Potomac in 1787. The monument consists of a column of Woodstock granite, which is capped with a globe and stands atop a tall, concrete plinth consisting of a plaza. Interest in building a monument to Rumsey at Shepherdstown, and to the first successful public demonstration of his steamboat, began in the 19th-century. In 1888, Congressman Alexander Boteler sought to raise money for a monument to Rumsey. In 1903, state senator William Campbell introduced bills to fund a monument and in 1905, the West Virginia Legislature provisioned an initial $1,750 for the monument (). The Rumseian Society was incorporated in 1906 to facilitate the monument's construction. The Society acquired land from Norfolk and Western Railway in 1907, and commenced construction in 1915 following a contract with Forbes Granite Company of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. The monument was completed in 1916 and became a state park in 1956, when the legislature transferred its operation to the state Conservation Commission's Division of State Parks. The commission was succeeded by the Department of Natural Resources, and in 1971, the legislature authorized the department to acquire the monument from the Rumseian Society. However, negotiations between the department and the society were unsuccessful. The department ceased operating the state park in 1978, and transferred its adjacent property to the corporation of Shepherdstown for use as a public park. The society retained ownership of the monument. In 1987, the monument and the four-acre park were added as a contributing property to the Shepherdstown Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. Geography and setting The James Rumsey Monument and surrounding park are located off Mill Street at the end of Rumsey Monument Road, within the eastern area of the corporation of Shepherdstown in Jefferson County, West Virginia. The site consists of a granite column monument atop a plinth, and a small adjacent park. It is situated atop a promontory overlooking the Potomac River at an elevation of . The monument and park are surrounded by forested land. The platform around the monument's column provides a panoramic view of the Potomac River, the Chesapeake and