Newcomer House Guest Book - Keedysville, MD
N 39° 27.877 W 077° 43.638
18S E 265373 N 4371888
There is a guest book for this new National Park addition. Since its opening on September 14th, 2010. The house serves as a visitor center for this Civil War heritage region and also as a museum.
Waymark Code: WMCMMT
Location: Maryland, United States
Date Posted: 09/21/2011
Views: 2
The book is in the rear room, adjacent to the NPS desk, next to the park stamp. The NPS folks who quite friendly and knowledgeable about the area and Civil War attractions.
The Newcomer House was built in the 1780s by Christopher Orndorff, alongside the “Boonsboro Pike” near Middle Bridge across Antietam Creek outside of Sharpsburg. The property is referred to as the Newcomer Farm because Joshua Newcomer was the owner at the time of the 1862 Battle of Antietam. The farm and mill complex appear in several historic photographic images captured by Alexander Gardner just after the battle. SOURCE For some unknown reason, this site is not a contributing structure to the historic district.
The historic Newcomer House at Antietam National Battlefield opened as a visitor center on Sept. 14, 2010. The actual opening coincided with the 148th anniversary of the Battle of South Mountain. The new, and first, Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area Welcome and Exhibit Center is a collaboration between the park and Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau. The folks (volunteers) at the house greet visitors and give travel information for the battlefields and such other sites as the National Museum of Civil War Medicine and the Pry House Field Hospital Museum. They also have a stamp available for the National Parks passport book. The focus area of he visitor visitor center encompasses Carroll, Frederick and Washington Counties, South Mountain State Battlefield, Antietam National Battlefield, the Pry House Field Hospital Museum, and other federal, state, and local parks.
The farmhouse and 2.5 acres were purchased from a private in-holder by the NPS in 2007. The 2,000-square-foot house is in good condition, according to the park. Repairs made by the previous owner, who used the house as a small private museum, met the Department of the Interior’s standards. The home witnessed the Battle of Antietam on Sept. 17, 1862. The house can be seen in historic photographs taken immediately following the battle. SOURCE
I stayed 20 minutes to look at the museum inside and learn a little more about the Civil War as it played out in this area. There were three rooms I toured and the fourth room was where the Park workers were, the brochures and their National Park stamp. Inside the center are exhibit panels that feature several Frederick attractions, including Mount Olivet Cemetery, where many Confederate soldiers are buried; the Laboring Sons Memorial Ground at Chapel Alley and Fifth Street, where six African-American Civil War soldiers are buried; the Roger Brooke Taney House; the National Museum of Civil War Medicine and a photo of wounded soldiers being treated at Evangelical Lutheran Church.
Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area Exhibit and Visitor Center, open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day May to October and weekends in April and November. Anniversary events this weekend include a cannon-firing demonstration at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, and a concert of Civil War music at 1:30 p.m. Sunday. Parking is available at the house.