Day 24 - Lancaster, PA to Manassas, VA

On the road at 8:30, after another of those little boxes of raisin bran, but did find a Starbucks. It took a little work to locate highway 283, but once on it we were unknowingly headed for a great day and it was a quick trip to Sharpsburg, Maryland.

Once in there, we found the Antietam Battlefield Visitors Center, took a look at the displays and picked up car tour map. Our first stop was a short walk to the Dunker Church and then back to the car for a very well laid out tour of the battlefield. In 30 minutes the 24 acre Cornfield accounted for 60 percent casualties in one Louisiana Brigade. Next door in the West Woods over 2,200 Union soldiers were killed or wounded in 20 minutes. Nearby is the Sunken Road. Worn down over the decades, it became known as “Bloody Lane” for the number killed in a three hour standoff. Toward the end of the tour we parked and walked down to Burnside Bridge, where Union troops under the command of General Ambrose Burnside crossed Antietam Creek, forcing Confederates away from the battlefield.

Antietam and Gettysburg were different is a couple of ways. At 3,255 acres Antietam is much easier to visit and a one day battle is much easier to visualize than three. But in both soldiers die. In the case of Antietam, over 22,720 were killed, wounded or missing in one day. Compare that to 43,733 at Gettysburg in three days.

We started looking for a place to have lunch and ended up at Betty’s in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. You are no more amazed at how we do these things than we are. The words West Virginia had never entered our minds. But there we were in a town of 1,208 hardy souls, a whole lot of old building and Shepherdstown University. Betty’s was packed, but we found space to split a ham sandwich. After lunch we found out about their world famous crab cakes, for which even employees must pay full price.

So what to do next. Plugged Harper’s Ferry into the GPS and promptly got lost. Taking a chance, I ignored the road closed sign, followed the Shenandoah River for a few miles and found the road really was closed. It took a little while, but we finally arrived at the Harper’s Ferry National Park. Golden Age Pass worked again and we took a park bus down to the town. What a great place for us to stumble on. More museums than we could possibly go through. John Brown’s Fort. The old C & O Canal. Great view of the Shenandoah flowing into the Potomac. For anyone interested in the Civil War this is a must see.

We still had an 80 mile drive to our motel, which doesn’t seem like much. Only problem was the Capital Beltway at rush hour. I really don’t like that kind of driving. Everyone is in a hurry. Got checked into our motel and headed for Olive Garden. Tomorrow is Manassas National Battlefield. Added Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia today, so should be up to 23 states. 258 miles today.

Antietam National Battlefield

Burnside Bridge
Antietam National Battlefield
Sharpsburg, Maryland