Blackfords Ferry at Shepherdstown

The ferry that operated between Shepherdstown and Bridgeport was first built and owned by Thomas Swearingen sometime before 1765. John Blackford married Thomas Swearingen’s daughter Sarah and purchased the ferry along with land around Bridgeport from the Swearingen family. The ferry was reinstated in the 1930s after the third toll bridge was destroyed by the 1936 flood and was in operation until the new James Rumsey Bridge was erected in 1939, which itself was replaced in 2004.