In one form or another, there has been a means of crossing the Potomac River between present day Shepherdstown, West Virginia and Bridgeport, Maryland (site of Ferry Hill Plantation, C&O Canal Headquarters of the National Park Service). One of the earliest crossings was a packhorse ford located near the present day site of the bridge at Shepherdstown. Swearingen's Ferry operated at Shepherdstown beginning in the mid-1750's until the first bridge was completed over the river by the Virginia and Maryland Bridge Company in the 1850s.
The Virginia and Maryland Bridge Company at Shepherdstown was incorporated by Virginia (Chapter 225, Acts of 1847) and recognized by Maryland (Chapter 287, Laws of Maryland 1847). The Virginia law required that the Virginia act must be recognized by Maryland and also that the company had to purchase the rights to the ferry prior to beginning construction on the bridge. The bridge was assessed by Washington County from its completion in the early 1850's. Rebuilt several times, it was eventually purchased by the State of Maryland in 1938. The bridge in its current form is known as the James Rumsey Bridge and carrries Route 34 over the Potomac.
A State Highway Administration Bridge inventory lists the bridge as being inspected and maintained by West Virginia with costs being split 50/50 by both states.