Jefferson County Museum Historian Doug Perks discusses local history in the Shepherdstown Public Library on Saturday. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — Jefferson County Museum Historian Doug Perks gave a lecture on elements of local history related to the exhibit, “A Sense of Place,” in the Shepherdstown Public Library’s Commons Room on Saturday afternoon.

The 13 paintings in the exhibit — all by acclaimed Shepherdstown artist Diana Suttenfield — portray the Shepherdstown of the past, according to Perks.

“As I look around, I can see the way things used to be,” Perks said, before pointing out specific details in the paintings hanging from the walls of the Commons Room.

According to Perks, Suttenfield’s paintings appeared to represent Shepherdstown circa 1960. However, they featured a number of areas with close connections to the Civil War and Revolutionary War. Some of those areas have since been altered by development, while others are still there, but inaccessible to the public, such as the starting location of the Beeline March to Cambridge, Mass. in the Revolutionary War.

“When I was preparing for today’s lecture, I looked at the work that Diana was going to have and tried to incorporate what she did into what I talked about,” Perks said. “It just so happens that in there is the monument to the men that marched to Cambridge in 1775. In there are two homes and the ruins of a third home that were very much involved in Civil War activity, in 1862 and 1864. Principally, this is a capture of what this area looked like in the 1960s, but it also happens to be an area that is very much steeped in history.”

Diana Suttenfield, left, talks about her art with Shepherdstown resident Kathy Sholl in the Shepherdstown Public Library on Saturday. Tabitha Johnston

Perks tried to humanize history through his lecture, by focusing on first-person accounts from journals and letters.

“I made a conscious effort to try to portray history, using words that they spoke and wrote,” Perks said. “We know all of the generals. We know where the armies went. We know this, that and the other. But we don’t often think about the people that lived here, what they experienced. And so, I tried to make it a point to share what they experienced and thought.”

For Suttenfield, the lecture did a wonderful job of exploring the significance of the locations her paintings portray.

“I had started some of these pieces several years ago, especially the first one of Rocky Marsh,” Suttenfield said. “What I began to realize that I wanted to do, was create a series of paintings of Rocky Marsh, because the library is close to it. Then I decided to make paintings of other locations in the area around the library, like the Beeline March Road and Fountain Rock.

“People are saying that no one knows where Morgan’s Springs is, because they can’t see it. So, I thought I’d make paintings of it, so they can see it,” Suttenfield said. “I wanted people to get a sense of the history that we don’t see, though it’s all around them.”

After the exhibit closes this weekend, one of the paintings will be donated to the Jefferson County Museum, while two others will be donated to the Historic Shepherdstown Commission.