Located on the Chambersburg Pike on top of Seminary Ridge, this 4-acre property was the headquarters site of Gen. Robert E. Lee during the Battle of Gettysburg. The site includes a small stone house which, at the time of the battle, was the home of 69-year-old widow Mary Thompson. The property surrounding the house played a pivotal role in the severe fighting on July 1, 1863 and was a key position in the Confederate line for the rest of the engagement. In the decades after the battle, the Thompson house and adjacent property became a popular attraction, then host to a museum and motel complex; but in 2014 the Civil War Trust announced plans to buy and restore the property as much as possible to its 1863 appearance. The Trust worked diligently to rehabilitate the home, return the landscape to its Civil War appearance, and install a new interpretive walking trail on the property — which opened on October 28, 2016. Today, visitors to the site can enjoy the self-guided interpretive trail, with five signs explaining the dramatic events at the headquarters from July 1-3, 1863. The Mary Thompson house itself has been carefully restored to its wartime appearance and will be open to the public only on special occasions. Eventually, Lee’s Headquarters will be donated to the National Park Service for incorporation into the existing military park.

The monument along US Route 30 looking west towards the advancing Confederates on July 1, 1863

Located at the entrance to Antietam National Cemetery, the Lodge House is an important part of the cemetery’s historic landscape. This structure served as the living quarters, office for the cemetery’s superintendent and until 1963, served as the National Park Service’s Visitors Center. The observation tower provided a commanding view of the Antietam Civil War battlefield. Architecturally, its elaborate iron gates at the entrance to the cemetery were erected in 1866 by Robert Wood and Company of Philadelphia for a cost of $880 while the gothic-inspired lodge house typifies the designs popular in the mid-nineteenth century. Although similar in function to other national cemetery lodges, the Antietam Lodge was constructed under the auspices of the Antietam National Cemetery Commission established by the state of Maryland. As such it predates Quartermaster General Montgomery Meigs’ 1871 standard plan for National Cemetery lodges. Instead, the Lodge’s Gothic Revival design was executed by Washington, D.C. architect Paul Pelz. The national cemetery was governed by the Board of Trustees of the Antietam National Cemetery Commission until 1877, when the War Department took over stewardship.

dunker church

NY State Monument and War Dept tablets near Dunker Church and Visitor Center

Looking towards the Mumma Farm

Looking at the Mumma Farm

The Moon rises behind the monument of the 7th PA Reserve (36th) Volunteer Infantry. Under direction of the 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division in the First Corps under Joesph Hooker

BURNSIDE’S BRIDGE

The Dunkard Church at Antietam witnessed some of the most vicious fighting of the American Civil War on the morning of September 17th 1862. Today it sits quietly as it did before that terrible day but this time as a reminder of the battle fought in America’s bloodiest day.

ANTIETAM BLOODY LANE SUNDOWN

ANTIETAM SUNKEN ROAD 130TH PA FRONT

At the western edge of a sunken road nicknamed the “Bloody Lane” stands this memorial to the 130th PA Regiment who fought bravely on that afternoon in September of 1862. The majority of the men that made up the 130th were from the Cumberland Valley in Pennsylvania and hailed from Shippensburg. For more info on the 130th read paemergencymen.blogspot.com/2011/11/130th-pennsylvania.html