Upcoming Events:
July 17, 2025 – 7pm. Midnight on the Potomac: Scott Ellsworth in Conversation. Join us at the Byrd Center Auditorium for a powerful and timely discussion with bestselling historian Scott Ellsworth, author of Midnight on the Potomac: The Last Year of the Civil War, the Lincoln Assassination, and the Rebirth of America. Books will be available for purchase at the event. Presented by Four Seasons Books in partnership with the George Tyler Moore Center & the Center for Appalachian Studies at Shepherd University.
August 28, 2025 – 7pm. Meet the New Director: An Evening with Dr. Jennifer Murray. Join us at the Shepherdstown Opera House as our new director, Dr. Jennifer Murray, talks about her research. Following her talk, join us across the street at the GTMC for a light reception and an opportunity to chat with Dr. Murray.
September 18-20, 2025 – Annual Civil War Fall Seminar: Antietam & Its Legacy. Click here for more information.
September 27, 2025 – Sedgwick’s Division – Tour of Antietam with Scott Hartwig. The tour functions as a fundraising initiative for the GTMC and the Digital History Pioneers Foundation. Following the tour, attendees are invited to a book signing and light refreshments at the Shindler House (GTMC). Please note that tickets are required for participation, and space is limited. The walk will meet at the NPS Visitor Center and hike to the East Woods then follow the approximate path of Lieutenant Sam Hodgman, of the 7th Michigan, and Roland Bowen, an observant enlisted man in the 15th Massachusetts, and their experiences during the disaster that engulfed their division. Their story will inform the broader narrative of what impact the defeat and rout of Sedgwick’s division had upon the Battle of Antietam. The program will entail about 1 and ½ miles of moderate walking, along roads, trails and fields. TICKETS CLICK HERE.
November 2, 2025 – Shepherdstown Battlefield tour with Kevin Pawlak; details forthcoming
Recent Events:
May 23, 2025 – Bleeding Kansas – A Historical Drama presented by Town Run Theatre Company at Shepherdstown Opera House. Following the May 23rd performance, GTMC’s new director, Dr. Jennifer Murray, presented a short talk.
December 5, 2024 – Professor Jonathan Noyalas presented “Never to be Forgotten”: What the Battle of Cool Spring Reveals about the War’s Impact on Soldiers & Families from his book “The Blood-Tinted Waters of the Shenandoah”: The 1864 Valley Campaign’s Battle of Cool Spring.
December 7, 2024 – Historic Christmas at the Shindler House. Join us after the parade for a family friendly celebration of the season! Stop by to create a yule log, see military reenactors, and have a snack of cider and ginger snaps.
November 2, 2024 – Black Life at Ferry Hill Tour. Drs. James Broomall and Ben Bankhurst, along with special guest Justin Ebersole (NPS cultural resource specialist), lead a walking tour focusing on Black life, enslavement, and freedom at Ferry Hill. Participants toured Ferry Hill’s interior and walked the site grounds.
October 8, 2024 – Dr. Kate Masur presented an author talk and q&a about her new book Freedom Was in Sight: A Graphic History of Reconstruction in the Washington, D.C. Area, presented in partnership with Four Seasons Books and the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education.
April 25, 2024 – Dr. Clayton Butler, Historian and Assistant Editor at UVA Press, spoke on his book True Blue: White Unionists in the Deep South During the Civil War and Reconstruction.
March 21, 2024 – Panel career discussion highlighting the great successes of Shepherd graduates and potential careers for current students.
December 1, 2023 – James Scythes offered a talk from his book Letters to Lizzie: The Story of Sixteen Men in the Civil War and the One Woman Who Connected Them All.
December 2, 2023 – Historic Christmas: living history demonstrations, children’s activities, battlefield tabletop games, and a display by Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association.
November 8, 2023 – Co-sponsored with Byrd CHE and Lifelong Learning, Charlie Goodyear presented from his book “President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier“.
November 16, 2023 – Patrick Schroeder, Historian at Appomattox Courthouse National Historical Park presented from his his popular Myths About Lee’s Surrender books.
October 12, 2023 – Historian Curtis Older presented from his book Hood’s Defeat Near Fox’s Gap: Prelude to Emancipation.
October 6-8, 2023 – We held our Fall Seminar, “Meade’s Decision: The Pipe Creek Line & the Road to Gettysburg.”
September 21, 2023 – Historian and filmmaker Steven Cowie presented from his book When Hell Came to Sharpsburg: The Battle of Antietam and Its Impact on the Civilians Who Called It Home.
September 17, 2023 – Shepherdstown Opera House, along with the GTMC, Historic Shepherdstown Museum, and Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association, hosted the first theater screening and q & a of “Shepherdstown Remembers Antietam,” an original film written and produced by local history researcher Jim Surkamp. The film describes the Battle’s impact through the eyes of Shepherdstown-area residents of the time, many of whom mobilized to aid wounded and hungry soldiers.
August 30, 2023 – In partnership with Shepherd University’s Lifelong Learning program, Dr. Stephen Goldman presented “Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Wiley Gelray: How a Maimed Union Veteran Battled the Ku Klux Klan” from his book One More War to Fight: Union Veterans’ Battle for Equality through Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and the Lost Cause.
April 26, 2023 – Dr. Scott MacKenzie presented on his book Slavery, Emancipation, and the Formation of West Virginia, 1829-1872, co-sponsored with Lifelong Learning.
March 16-18, 2023 – The Virginia Forum held its annual conference at Shepherd University.
March 2, 2023 – Dr. Emilie Amt presented “Black Antietam: Searching for African American Civil War History” from her book Black Antietam: African Americans and the Civil War in Sharpsburg.
December 3, 2022 – Holiday Open House with Living History Demonstrations and a Yule Log. We presented Christmas across the ages through hands-on demonstrations, toys, and learning the tradition of the Yule log.
December 1, 2022 – “A Classical Brass Christmas” A brass quintet, consisting of current and former Shepherd University faculty performed Christmas and other classical pieces from the 16th-20th centuries.
November 29, 2022 – Robert Dunkerly presented “The Brown’s Island Explosion and Search for the Victims”
November 19, 2022 – “Culp’s Hill in War and Memory”: Dr. James Broomall and Dana Shoaf, Editor at Civil War Times, lead a walking tour of Culp’s Hill in Gettysburg National Battlefield.
November 9, 2022 – Ernie Dollar presented on his recent book, Hearts Torn Asunder: Trauma in the Civil War’s Final Campaign in North Carolina.
October 27, 2022 – Professor Jonathan Noyalas presented “‘To Be Free Someday’: Reflections on Slavery & Freedom in the Shenandoah Valley During the Civil War Era,” from his book Slavery and Freedom in the Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War Era. Watch on Facebook.
September 10, 2022 – “Exposed to the Fire of Slavery and Freedom:” A Symposium Commemorating the 160th Anniversary of the Battle of Antietam. In conjunction with Antietam National Battlefield, this one-day event featured presentations on the battle of Antietam and its contested legacy.
July 6 – 9, 2021 – “A desperate thing to do”- Jubal Early’s 1864 Maryland Campaign, Facebook, (view here)
June 3, 2021 – Mosby’s Rangers with Eric W. Buckland, Facebook Live, (view here)
May 26, 2021 – “Down the Valley, and Back Again”: The 1862 Valley Campaign“, Facebook Live (view here)
May 19, 2021 – “The Grinding Curse”: Race and Slavery in the Shenandoah Valley, Facebook Live (view here)
May 6, 2021 – Material Witness: Eighteenth- and Nineteenth- Century Artifacts and Narrating the Past- Facebook Live (view here)
March 25, 2021 – Searching for Hayward Shepherd – Facebook Live (view here)
March 4, 2021 – Music of the People: American Folk Music through the Centuries – Facebook Live (view here)
February 16, 2021 – Seceding from Secession: West Virginia Exceptionalism and the Road to Statehood – Facebook Live (view here)
January 28, 2021 – The Winter’s War: Civil War Soldiers in Camp & On Campaign – Facebook Live (view here)
We hope you join us for future programs!