I'm going to Maryland, what do I do?

CraftyMauiMamma

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May 12, 2015
Location
Maui, Hawaii
Hi all! My husband is in the fire department here and is being sent to Emmitsburg, Maryland at the end of October for a class; I decided I need to come along. We're from Hawaii and this will be my first trip to the east coast. We'll be flying through Washington.

I am really wet around the ears when it comes to Civil War information, I just started getting into it this year. Being that I have less than three month to prepare for this trip I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. We're not "fly by the seat of our pants" people on vacation, I usually read a few books set in the destination were going to, study any interesting history, and plan every day out. Three months is not a lot of time to prepare, especially when the kids want dinner every single night!

Any information you guys could give me would be great. Specifically, I am hoping to hear about:

-Any books I should read

-Places not to miss. Currently on my list is Antietam Battlefield and Gettysburg. We may stay a few days in Washington DC, too.

-Any ancestry information that would be helpful for me to do. I'm studying the current information I haven my Civil War ancestors.

-Food I need to try. A girls gotta eat ☺️

Thanks in advance for you advice and help!
 
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Hi all! My husband is in the fire department here and is being sent to Emmitsburg, Maryland at the end of October for a class; I decided I need to come along We're from Hawaii and this will be my first trip to the east coast. We'll be flying through Washington.
I am really wet around the ears when it comes to Civil War information, I just started getting into it this year. Being that I have less than three month to prepare for this trip I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. We're not "fly by the seat of our pants" people on vacation, I usually read a few books set in the destination were going to, study any interesting history, and plan every day out. Three months is not a lot of time to prepare, especially when the kids want dinner every single night!

Any information you guys could give me would be great. Specifically, I am hoping to hear about:
-Any books I should read
-Places not to miss. Currently on my list is Antietam Battlefield and Gettysburg. We may stay a few days in Washington DC, too.
-Any ancestry information that would be helpful for me to do. I'm studying the current information I haven my Civil War ancestors.
-Food I need to try. A girls gotta eat ☺️

Thanks in advance for you advice and help!
How long you gonna be in that area? The knowledgeable folks here probably need to know that in order to make suggestions to help you best utilize your time.
 
(Can a moderator move this to The Civil War Traveler's Companion forum, so there is more help btw?)

Here is my take:

-Any books I should read

a. Read a single volume ACW book and stop at mid July 1863. Decision point: What speaks more to you: The Maryland Campaign or the Gettysburg Campaign. Pick one.
b. Read as much as you can about the one you like and plan the trip.

-Places not to miss. Currently on my list is Antietam Battlefield and Gettysburg. We may stay a few days in Washington DC, too.

Hate to say this, but these 2 places are a year apart and really disconnected. Will be more fruitful to pick a Campaign and try to understand it. It is fine, if you are looking to do sight seeing, but if those 2 are in your list, that's what you will be doing :wink:

-Any ancestry information that would be helpful for me to do. I'm studying the current information I haven my Civil War ancestors.

Need more info to help with this.

-Food I need to try. A girls gotta eat ☺️


Glorious October in the Mid-Atlantic :smile: If you want to eat local, I'd recommend lump crab crabcakes, apple cider, apple pie (fresh and local; that is peak apple harvest season here.) I would not recommend to try, but, since you are coming from the place that put spam sushi on a culinary map, you might want to try scrapple, pretty much the same idea. (And I am cringing when typing this.) New York style pizza or cheese-steaks, are also some local things you might want to consider. So is shoo-fly pie. Ouch.

Another thing to consider: Emmitsburg is not a metropolis (or close to one.) Repeat. So, likely you will be limited in culinary choices.
 
Sounds like you will be busy. Unfortunately the Adams County Apple harvest festival is earlier in October on the 10-11th. Apples are a big deal around here, wife works for the growers coop.
We like to eat at the Dobbin House in G-burg.
 
I'm sorry I didn't post this in the travel forum, I didn't see it.

-Places not to miss. Currently on my list is Antietam Battlefield and Gettysburg. We may stay a few days in Washington DC, too.

Hate to say this, but these 2 places are a year apart and really disconnected. Will be more fruitful to pick a Campaign and try to understand it. It is fine, if you are looking to do sight seeing, but if those 2 are in your list, that's what you will be doing :wink:

Thanks for answering.
If you don't mind me asking, are you implying that visiting the site and going through the tours and national park offerings isn't fully experiencing what's to offer? If so, can you offer suggestions of how to improve the experience?
Or are you saying I won't fully be able to research the information before leaving? Which, yeah, there's only so many hours in the day. I know I'm going to be missing out on stuff, it's a short trip and I am so not ready.


Any ancestry information that would be helpful for me to do. I'm studying the current information I haven my Civil War ancestors.

Need more info to help with this.
.

I guess I was hoping for a general "make sure you have this". My 4th gr grandfather was Samuel Mumma so I would like to learn more about landholders in the area, I believe my 4th gr grandmothers family were the Millers, and I think my 2nd gr grandfather ended up marrying another local farm owners daughter after they moved to Illinois. I'm thinking this kind of information will be easier to find.

In another part of my tree, another of my 4th gr grandfathers along with my 3rd gr grandfather and two of his brothers fought at Antietam. Are there more detailed records with personal soldier information? Could I track down any interesting and useful info we I'm there?

Sounds like you will be busy. Unfortunately the Adams County Apple harvest festival is earlier in October on the 10-11th. Apples are a big deal around here, wife works for the growers coop.
We like to eat at the Dobbin House in G-burg.

Sorry to be missing the apples! Dobbin House looks perfect and I'll add it to the list, thanks :smile:
 
What to see is such a personal decision, so what I would want to see may or may not be a best fit for someone else.

Personally, if in the area I would make a priority of touring Gettysburg. There are many ways of touring Gettysburg including getting a recording that you can play in your vehicle for a self-guided tour, taking a tour bus, or hiring a tour guide. Plenty of places to eat, appealing to varying tastes and budget. Reading any of the books discussed on this forum would help understanding of what you are looking at. In my humble opinion, what happened in Gettysburg is too complicated for the brief time that tour guides have. Don't forget to visit the Eternal Light Monument and see the breach-loading Whitworth Cannons. http://civilwarwiki.net/wiki/12_pdr._Whitworth_Breechloading_Rifle

For Washington D.C., the Air and Space Museum is a must see.
 
Thanks for answering.
If you don't mind me asking, are you implying that visiting the site and going through the tours and national park offerings isn't fully experiencing what's to offer? If so, can you offer suggestions of how to improve the experience?
Or are you saying I won't fully be able to research the information before leaving? Which, yeah, there's only so many hours in the day. I know I'm going to be missing out on stuff, it's a short trip and I am so not ready.

I mean Antietam and Gettysburg were parts of 2 campaigns about a year apart and have totally different contexts. My suggestion was to focus on either campaign and visit related battlefields, because I think that one can get a better picture of a campaign.

Nothing wrong with visiting every single battlefield in the area also :smile:
 
But, a word of caution...once there, you may not want to go home.
I get that same feeling at small battlefields,which is all I've been able to visit so far. I can only imagine what it would feel like at Gettysburg.
 
first battle of the war....Bull Run/Manassas Battlefield is about 20 miles from Washington DC in Virginia. I went to it in 2010 and it is worth going to. I've only been to the east a few times so I haven't been able to see many of them other than Bull Run and Gettysburg. But if you are going to be in DC....Ford's Theater (a place I've never been able to get...sigh) would be one to go to...I think it is close to the White House. Monocacy is pretty close to DC on the west side of town.
 
May I suggest Fredericksburg as a place to stay for a few days. The town is a wonderful trip into the Civil War era and is a little more than an hour south of DC. From Fredericksburg it is a short drive to Chancellorsville, the Wilderness and Spotsylvania. The town itself is great and the history per square mile in the areas is hard to beat.
 
Antietam will take you a solid day to get around. Gettysburg, well people are mixed, but I'd say at least 2, but you could spend all week there depending on how "into" the battle you want to get.

Frederick has Monocacy Battlefield. There is always South Mountain too. Haha you are going to get some wild responses here with all the things you could do. DC itself has a lot of great places to visit, CW and non civil war related.

I'd personally try and see Antietam first. As far as eats...ohh soo many.
 
Since this is your first time on the east coast, I would ask if you are planning to have another trip. If this is a "one and done" and it were me, I would probably visit as many places as possible, because even if I can't get more than a cursory tour or a spend more than a few hours (Antietam) or a day (Gettysburg) at least I would have been there, and gotten a general understanding of the lay of the land which is very informative when I am reading about the battles while back home.

What would you regret more? Not having enough time at a battlefield to study it in-depth, or not having seen the battlefield at all?

Considering I am packing up the 3 year old and heading that way for a brief vacation (a day at Gettysburg, a few hours at Antietam), I can say even brief visits can be fun/informative/worthwhile. It really depends on what you want to do.

For me, it would be a crying shame to be less than an hours' drive from either Antietam or Gettysburg and not make the effort to go see them.

Here are a few thoughts:

1. Both battlefields have Licensed Battlefield Guides. They are great resources. You can customize a tour and make sure that they focus on the units, times/days, families you seek.

2. (I am a "do lots of things" person, so it is not unusual to cram lots of things into a Civil War trip) If you are in Antietam, you are only a few miles from Harpers Ferry. They recently had a fire in the commercial area of Lower Town, but there are still restaurants where you can eat and people watch. Lots of history in addition to the John Brown/Civil War history, and the hiking is great. I can only imagine what a short hike up Maryland Heights or the hike from the Visitor's Center to Lower Town would be like in fall colors.

3. The problem with this area is that everything is about an hour from everything else. So you start at Gettysburg, then an hour away is Antietam/Harpers Ferry, then another hour away is Manassas, then another hour past that is Fredericksburg with the 4 big battlefields, then you are only an hour away from Richmond and then an hour away from Petersburg and before you know it, you are miles and days away from where you started. So be careful because it can happen (I speak from experience).

4. If you want a really nice, fancy haute cuisine meal, or if you are a fan of the Bravo show Top Chef, Top Chef runner up Bryan Voltaggio's restaurant Volt is in Frederick and it is a.maz.ing.

5. You cannot tour Antietam and not visit Nutter's Ice Cream in Sharpsburg. It is just not done. They give you a lot for very little money, but they don't take credit or debit cards.

6. I would recommend Landscape Turned Red by Stephen Sears for Antietam. He also has a book on Gettysburg called, surprisingly, Gettysburg. But I also like Killer Angels as "prep" for a visit to Gettysburg and a watch of the movie Gettysburg (which I have two nights to watch so it may not happen for me this time). Also, I like Shelby Foote's Stars in Their Courses which is an excerpt of his larger Civil War: A Narrative and covers the Gettysburg campaign. If you are looking for a more academic look at G'Berg, neither the Killer Angels (a novel) or Stars in their courses (a historic narrative which does not include citations) will fill that need.

7. You could spend several days in DC. There is a lot to do there. And it is a great walking city. I "accidentally" walked 7 miles in 4 hours this spring just wandering around killing time.
 
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I was going to write a long response, but tonijustine beat me too it. I agree with almost everything she said. Gettysburg, Antietam and Harpers Ferry would be my top 3 priorities/preferences (in that order) as well. If you don't plan on coming back to the area any time soon, I'd see as much as you can.

In addition to the Sears books, I'd also recommend map-focused books to read and view simultaneously. For Gettysburg, I read Detweiler's book, and for Antietam (and Harpers Ferry) I read Gottfried's. I'm sure Gottfried's Gettyburg map book is perfectly suitable as well. I found the map books very helpful, and made it easier to visualize the battlefield action when visiting.

To get the most out of Harpers Ferry, I'd read up on John Brown. I'd recommend one of the newer biographies on John Brown. I believe I read Midnight Rising. Brown's story is a great one. The house where he planned his raid is nearby, but requires an appointment to tour it, I believe. The John Brown Museum in Harpers Ferry is excellent. I am also a fan of the John Brown Wax Museum (fee), but that opinion might not be a popular one. It's kinda cheesy :smile:.

D.C. has plenty to see. Ford's Theater is well worth a visit. A great book for the assassination story and hunt for John Wilkes Booth is Manhunt. It's a really easy and exciting read. The Ford's Theater tour also includes a visit to the house where Lincoln died.

I visit Manassas regularly and it's an excellent park in many ways, but unless you are in the immediate area or have a specific interest in either of the battles there, I'd recommend spending an extra day or two in Gettysburg and/or D.C. over visiting there.

Regardless of where you go, you'll be here during a great time of year and I bet you'll have a very memorable trip.
 
Since this is your first time on the east coast, I would ask if you are planning to have another trip. If this is a "one and done" and it were me, I would probably visit as many places as possible, because even if I can't get more than a cursory tour or a spend more than a few hours (Antietam) or a day (Gettysburg) at least I would have been there, and gotten a general understanding of the lay of the land which is very informative when I am reading about the battles while back home.

What would you regret more? Not having enough time at a battlefield to study it in-depth, or not having seen the battlefield at all?

Considering I am packing up the 3 year old and heading that way for a brief vacation (a day at Gettysburg, a few hours at Antietam), I can say even brief visits can be fun/informative/worthwhile. It really depends on what you want to do.

For me, it would be a crying shame to be less than an hours' drive from either Antietam or Gettysburg and not make the effort to go see them.

Here are a few thoughts:

1. Both battlefields have Licensed Battlefield Guides. They are great resources. You can customize a tour and make sure that they focus on the units, times/days, families you seek.

2. (I am a "do lots of things" person, so it is not unusual to cram lots of things into a Civil War trip) If you are in Antietam, you are only a few miles from Harpers Ferry. They recently had a fire in the commercial area of Lower Town, but there are still restaurants where you can eat and people watch. Lots of history in addition to the John Brown/Civil War history, and the hiking is great. I can only imagine what a short hike up Maryland Heights or the hike from the Visitor's Center to Lower Town would be like in fall colors.

3. The problem with this area is that everything is about an hour from everything else. So you start at Gettysburg, then an hour away is Antietam/Harpers Ferry, then another hour away is Manassas, then another hour past that is Fredericksburg with the 4 big battlefields, then you are only an hour away from Richmond and then an hour away from Petersburg and before you know it, you are miles and days away from where you started. So be careful because it can happen (I speak from experience).

4. If you want a really nice, fancy haute cuisine meal, or if you are a fan of the Bravo show Top Chef, Top Chef runner up Bryan Voltaggio's restaurant Volt is in Frederick and it is a.maz.ing.

5. You cannot tour Antietam and not visit Nutter's Ice Cream in Sharpsburg. It is just not done. They give you a lot for very little money, but they don't take credit or debit cards.

6. I would recommend Landscape Turned Red by Stephen Sears for Antietam. He also has a book on Gettysburg called, surprisingly, Gettysburg. But I also like Killer Angels as "prep" for a visit to Gettysburg and a watch of the movie Gettysburg (which I have two nights to watch so it may not happen for me this time). Also, I like Shelby Foote's Stars in Their Courses which is an excerpt of his larger Civil War: A Narrative and covers the Gettysburg campaign. If you are looking for a more academic look at G'Berg, neither the Killer Angels (a novel) or Stars in their courses (a historic narrative which does not include citations) will fill that need.

7. You could spend several days in DC. There is a lot to do there. And it is a great walking city. I "accidentally" walked 7 miles in 4 hours this spring just wandering around killing time.
Excellent advice. I'm going to Richmond/Petersburg in January and will have 1 whole day and 3 half-days at best for CW sightseeing. As much as I'd like to go there more than once,the reality is that I may not get back there again. Your advice applies equally to my trip.
 
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