Antietam

Our little history buff.

On the 3rd of July, we headed to Antietam. For their birthdays, we generally let the kids choose between a party and going somewhere. Kara almost always chooses a party and Jack and Anna almost always choose to go somewhere. With their 9th birthday a few months away, we asked J & A what they wanted this year. Anna said Great Wolf Lodge and Jack said a visit to Antietam. We told him that we could do that without it counting as his birthday and asked him what his next choice was. He named another battlefield, the name of which escapes me (I just asked him and he said Chancellorsville and the Wilderness. I dare not tell him I have no idea what those battles are.).

Anyway, on July 3rd, we decided to make good on the promise. We planned a day similar to Gettysburg. We got everyone up a little early and headed out. We arrived just before 10 and watched the introductory movie. Then, we browsed the museum. It was small, but very interesting. There was a piece of a wooden fence rail with musket balls wedged in. There was also a long display case with items found from a neighboring farm. There was a picture of the farmer (I estimate it was taken in the 1950s, but I am not sure) and he was quoted as saying, "I must have gotten down from my tractor a thousand times to pick up some item or another." The items included a family bible, belt buckles, other uniform pieces and lots of weapons/musket balls. As most know, the Civil War is the first one where photography was used and of course there were pictures. The pictures changed the public perception of war forever, taking away the romanticism and belief that death was quick and bloodless.

After the museum, we explored outside. A church that was central in the battle was just steps away from the Visitor's Center and it was amazing to realize we were standing precisely in the spot where some of those pictures took place, complete with the small white church as a backdrop. We did the little walk around the church and a few monuments and then left the Visitor's Center.

The Dunker Church is in the background.

This was Thomas' favorite.

The draping was a flag, see the stars?

We drove a few miles to another central part of the battle--Burnside Bridge. It was also prominently featured in the pictures and we were very excited to walk on it, unfortunately, it was closed for repairs. We did walk down to it and because the area is still so untouched, it was easy to picture the scene.

We didn't get a picture, because it was full of construction equipment, but here's a nice one thanks to Google.

We had our picnic lunch and set out for walk.  There are several marked hikes in the area and we chose one that followed the Antietam (a creek). It was 1.7 miles and fairly level. Luke walked about half of it and everyone else held up great. We saw some people tubing in the river, but it was mostly quiet and peaceful. Again, it was easy to imagine the scene of thousands of marching soldiers.

The family who obliged.

Luke alternated between running ahead and lagging behind.

We were done around 2 and headed home, stopping at Wegmans on the way home because I wanted to see what the hype was all about (it was pretty impressive!).

On the 4th, we were all extremely excited to go to Stratford Hall, but the forecasted rain kept us away. We stayed close to home and enjoyed a quiet day. Thomas was home on Monday, the 5th and again it was rain.