Journey Through Hallowed Ground – MD

Story of the Byway

This Journey Through Hallowed Ground is a wonderful pilgrimage to sacrosanct Civil War sites, pristine national sanctuaries and land considered by many to be sacred. Maryland’s “hallowed ground” falls in the middle of a scenic and historically significant route that stretches from Gettysburg, Pa. to Monticello, VA. At the heart of the journey is the ecologically diverse Catoctin Mountain area, where U. S. Presidents spend their vacation and travelers are given easy access to a variety of heritage sites, the state’s highest cascading waterfall, and abundant nature trails.

Visitors will begin just south of the Pennsylvania border in the historic town of Emmitsburg. During the Civil War, troops passed through this area before and after the Battle of Gettysburg. Union troops camped on the grounds of the former St. Joseph’s College, and officers planned battle strategies in the home of the school’s founder, Elizabeth Ann Seton. A national shrine to Mother Seton, the first American-born saint, includes a visitor center and basilica. Nearby is the National Shrine Grotto of Lourdes, a “holy mountain sanctuary” visited by thousands of modern-day pilgrims each year. As visitors travel southward into Thurmont, visitors will enjoy the circa-1856 Roddy Road Covered Bridge, which reaches across one of the area’s finest trout streams. Also here is Catoctin Mountain Park, home of Camp David. This presidential retreat is closed to the public, but several nearby paths trace the history of the industrial use of the mountain, from wood cutting to charcoal making. Nearby is Cunningham Falls State Park, featuring a 78-foot waterfall that beautifully cascades into a rocky gorge and a peaceful retreat for fly fisherman, campers, picnickers, and lake lovers. Visitors can sample apples, peaches and other fruits from local orchards, and stop by the 30-acre Catoctin Wildlife Preserve and Zoo, where they can visit with lemurs, monkeys, panthers and more than 400 other animals nine months out of the year.

As visitors make their way to Sharpsburg, they should make a detour to South Mountain, the site of brutal, close-contact fighting prior to the Battle of Antietam. Here visitors will have the chance to experience one of the premier hiking opportunities in the United States: The Appalachian National Scenic Trail, which stretches from Maine to Georgia. Maryland’s 40-mile portion travels along the spine of South Mountain, weaving together several state parks and a Civil War battlefield.

As visitors enter Sharpsburg, they will link up with the Antietam Campaign Byway. This Civil War Trail features the national battlefield park that, in 1862, was the site of the bloodiest single-day battle ever to take place on American soil. Today, monuments along the beautiful landscape mark several key points, such as Bloody Lane and Burnside Bridge. The inns of the area offer quiet, comfortable lodging and outfitters offer options for traveling down Antietam Creek.

As visitors make their way east, they will soon see the clustered spires rising above downtown Frederick, which has played a part in every major chapter of American history. Guided walking tours and candlelight ghost tours take visitors past impressive 18th- and 19th-century architecture, as well as several sites linked to celebrated “locals” such as Star-Spangled Banner writer Francis Scott Key. Specialty shops, art galleries, antiques stores and restaurants are abundant, along with parks, a minor-league baseball stadium and a wine trail that incorporates both city and country wineries. Civil War history is a topic of interest at local museums such as the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, and is also explored on the outskirts of town at the Monocacy National Battlefield, famous for Robert E. Lee’s “Lost Orders” and the role they played in the Battle of Antietam, as well as for the 1864 “Battle that Saved Washington.”

Below Frederick, Burkittsville is another beautiful example of an American town from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. This byway then enters Virginia at Point of Rocks, which achieved national recognition in 1830 when the B&O Railroad and C&O Canal fought over the right-of-way between Catoctin Mountain and the Potomac River. The railroad finally tunneled through the mountain in 1867, but visitors can pick up the C&O Canal Scenic Byway here at its midway point.