Antietam National Battlefield Historic District - Sharpsburg, MD
N 39° 28.445 W 077° 44.679
18S E 263912 N 4372984
Antietam National Battlefield is a National Park Service protected area along Antietam Creek in Sharpsburg, Maryland which commemorates the American Civil War Battle of Antietam that occurred on September 17, 1862.
Waymark Code: WMCA4A
Location: Maryland, United States
Date Posted: 08/14/2011
Views: 19
The area, situated on fields among the Appalachian foothills near the Potomac River, features the battlefield site and visitor center, a national military cemetery and a field hospital museum. The entire battlefield is very organized and well-ran.
Compared to Gettysburg, there is a tenth of the amount of monuments yet here, the single greatest day of casualties occurred, yet they only boast about 90 some monuments. Many of these monuments are huge, tall obelisks which scrape the sky. Still more are topped with sculptures of soldiers. There is much more uniformity here with regards to the bronze tablets, each one numbered and similar. The road, with newly paid asphalt has strategic pull off points, also numbered. There are special signs and markers to identify every significant point of the landscape including but not limited to farms, roads and battlefields.
The region is very rocky and mountainous, contained in a very high elevation and near the Potomac River. Established as Antietam National Battlefield Site August 30, 1890, the park was transferred from the War Department August 10, 1933, and redesignated November 10, 1978. Along with all historic areas administered by the National Park Service, the battlefield was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.
I enjoyed my visit here which first started at the visitor center which offers numerous wayside markers, interpretives and a knowledgeable staff to help answer all your questions. There is a gift store and museum. They also have a stamp for your National Parks passport. The museum costs money and was open 'til six. The park is very manageable as far as time it takes to visit. Unlike Gettysburg which takes about a full week to see everything, I was able to do this park in about 9 hours, probably only missing about 5% of what is offered.