Reconstruction of John Brown’s Fort in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia.

Earlier the prior day, we stopped far too briefly at Harper’s Ferry. Our first stop was John Brown’s Fort, famed abolitionist John Brown’s daringly captured sanctuary fort for escaping slaves. Before long, however, Brown and those of his compatriots who survived a Confederate raid were captured.  The Confederate state of Virginia tried Brown. found him guilty of treason and hung him. 

The town of Harper’s Ferry is preserved as a National Historic Park in West Virginia.

Burnside Bridge battle plaque at Antietam, one of three major battlefields in Antietam, inside the Antietam National Battlefield, Maryland.

Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland to this day remains the single bloodiest day of battle in our country’s history.  On September 17, 1862, in twelve hours of fighting, nearly 23,000 soldiers were either killed, missing or wounded. At a terrible cost of to both sides, but more so to the Union, nonetheless, the Confederate army retreated the next day. 

Lincoln used that opportunity to make the emancipation declaration, the United States intention to end slavery. Apparently, that declaration was not entirely altruistic, but spurred on by a desire to discourage Brittian, who outlawed slavery in their county already from taking the side of the pro-slavery Conferates.

The rebuilt Burnside Bridge monument today; same as depicted in the plaquard in the image before this one.  Antietam National Battlefield park, Maryland.

As for us, we didn’t allow enough time to fully absorb what we were seeing. If you don’t know the players by side or the battles’ significance you may feel a bit lost, almost akin to watching a forgein movie in a language you don’t speak, especting but niot getting any subtitles. The momuments seem to assume you possess their significance beforehand or travel along with a. guide or a keyed in to the parks application with a virtual tour. We. weren’t equipped with either. We watched a video in the park headquarters, our first stop, which helped.

Here’s a good pictorial overview of Antietam from another blogger.

War Observation Tower, Antietam National Battlefield, Maryland.

The yellow of soybean fields as seen from War Observation Tower, Antietam Battlefield, Maryland. Cornfields also are maintained on the battlefields today for historical authenticity.

Marlee, Ryan, and Beth—family time in Frederick, Maryland.

Happy as I was to see and spend time with family, Frederick is a hideously expensive place for lodging. The only place we could find to stay for under $100 was a horrible Motel 6, by far the dirtiest and most spare hotel I’ve ever stayed in and appeared to be the kind of place for drug deals and prostitution. Yet oddly, some of the scariest folks there were unfailingly polite and pleasant to us. I still gave the hotel a one-star Google rating and the whole experience was so depressing that it nearly made Wayne and I turn around and drive home. Due to crappy weather, we’d just abandoned our plans to drive the Skyline through Shenandoah National Park, where we also intended to camp. We were spending a lot more than we intended and at that moment not enjoying our travels nearly as much as we expected to.

Local birds featured prominently on this building in Front Royal, Virginia, a marked departure from the town’s many historic buildings on the National Register of Historic Places.

Antietam Campground, alongside a scenic section of the Potomac River. Virginia.

After our crappy night in the Fredericks Moel 6, we pondered our plans.  Unfortunately, GPS doesn’t give you an option to “find cool towns and scenic byways.” Wayne used our road atlas—ye, we are that old school sometimes—to find a scenic highway. Wayne made an impromptu turn off the highway at a brown sign to the C & O Canal. He saw a sign to a campground and followed it there to Antietam Creek Campground. We came equipped to backpack and tent camp and expected to do so more than we did. Once again, we thought we’d lost out on a viable option: the campgrounds were full.

Gary Glick, our exceptionally kind Antietam Campground host, and his dog Bene.

However, Gary Glick, the campground host took pity on us decided to create a space for us. He placed us in a lovely, private campsite that no one booked because it was supposed to be closed. His kindness restored our spirits and inspired us to continue on. He also gave us a tip on a campsite down the road where we saw the best fall color our entire trip at a gorgeous waterfall. More on that in my next post.