Micah's Washington County Project

In 3rd grade, our kids have always had to do a Washington County project.  Because of the historical area in which we live, that means they get to learn more about history-- national and local.

I think Katie and Claire both chose to do Inside Hagerstown (which means you visit about 12-15 places in the city), and Jenna did Outside Hagerstown (12-15 places around the county-- definitely more driving, but it was interesting-- places like Sideling Hill, Wilson's General Store, C&O Canal, Washington Monument, Appalachian Trail).  

Happily, Micah chose a different one. :) He decided to do Antietam Battlefield, which means we had to visit 12 sites, 10 of which are on the battlefield itself.  

He and I have been there twice now, once on a nice 95-degree day.  We had a great time hunting up all the places, taking pictures and gathering info.  

Bloody Lane

This inverted cannon was a fun part of our "scavenger hunt".  When we started at the Visitor's Center, we were given a map that had almost all our sites marked.  But we also had to find at least one inverted cannon, and those weren't marked.  There are 6 of them around the battlefield, marking where a major general died.  We were hunted as we drove around the battlefield, really hoping we'd find one before we made it all the way around-- so we wouldn't have to go around again.  I did a little happy dance when we found one eventually.  :)  And we ended up finding 2 of the 6.  

This is not an interesting picture, but it was an interesting discovery!  The 2 places we had to go that WEREN'T on the battlefield itself were the site of Lee's headquarters and Rose Hill Cemetery.  Lee's campsite was TOUGH to find-- it's along the main road going thru Sharpsburg, but it's not obviously marked.  The photo above is from Rose Hill Cemetery, which is in Hagerstown, 12 miles up the road from the battlefield.  I've driven past Rose Hill Cemetery for more than 20 years now (in fact, I think we drove past it the very FIRST time I was in Hagerstown in 1995), but I didn't know anything about it... other than it has beautiful stone buildings by the entrance and it's across the road from a fascinating historic stone wall.  

We found out that there is a section of the cemetery where 2,467 Confederates are buried (photo above).  Can you imagine?  They carted 2,467 bodies, many unidentified, 12 miles up the road in wagons behind horses? 

Yes, I bribed my son.  I told him that if he could do this project with a good attitude, even with the nasty heat, we'd go to Sweet Frog.  He had a super attitude.  I really don't know if I would have had to bribe him, actually.  We did enjoy going to SF then!