Washington Memorial/Appalachian Trail/Dahlgren Chapel - Boonsboro, Maryland

A funny thing happened on the way to Antietam. With fifteen minutes left of a three hour ride I looked around on Route 40, aka, Old National Pike and saw a whole bunch of interesting sites, markers, trails and monuments. Welcome to Washington Monument State Park.

The first thing I noticed were a series of Civil War tablets as well as 4 separate wayside makers, also Civil War related. Next, I realized I was riding over the Appalachian Trail which runs over the road. I immediately veered into the Appalachian Trail parking lot, put fresh batteries into the camera and went to work.

The first thing which attracted my attention is an old stone church next to The Trail. The Dahlgren Chapel is a smallish, stone church which sits high up on a hill overlooking the National Pike. The chapel was built around 1881 by Madeline Vinton Dahlgren, widow of Admiral John A. Dahlgren, USN, Inventor of the Dahlgren Gun, the armament used by the USS Monitor against the CSS Virginia, formerly the steam frigate USS Merrimack. Today, the chapel is rented out for weddings and other ceremonies and affairs. On my visit, there was a large group of twenty something hikers resting on the grassy hill, in front of the church.

My close friends at Wiki told me the Dahlgren Chapel is located at the summit of Turner's Gap in western Maryland between Middletown and Boonsboro. The Gothic revival stone chapel was built in 1881 and consecrated as the Chapel of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Most of the building materials came from the immediate area of the site, while a marble altar was imported from Italy. SOURCE The church falls within the Turner's and Fox's Gaps Historic District, but as a non-contributing structure, owing to its post-Civil War construction, which places it outside the historic district's time of historic emphasis. Dang it!

After snapping my requisite of correctly angled pictures, I hopped back in the Altima and made my way into the park, driving the one mile to the visitor center parking lot.

There were some nice interpretives on nature and the indigenous bird populations as well as one concerning the namesake of the park. I took a quarter mile winding trail to the monument. Along the way are these wooden markers which highlight specific points of Washington's career. Neat stuff. I walked about 8 minutes, maybe left, crossed over the Appalachian Trail, saw the official markers and then the trail opened up into a large, circular clearing, where, in the center, was the object of my sweat...the Washington Monument in all its stony glory. I immediately was drawn to the rear where I was afforded the most incredible view of the valley below, which I was aided in understanding by two orientation tables high above in the tower.

The Monument

The 34-foot stone tower was built by the citizens of Boonsboro, Maryland, in honor of George Washington. The tower was dedicated on July 4, 1827. The monument often fell into disrepair, and was rebuilt at least twice during its history - mostly recently by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1936.

The monument is currently maintained by the Maryland Park Service. I absolutely loved coming here, loved the view, the history and the feeling of connecting a little more with my country. All good stuff. I surveyed the entire area and was able to spot Antietam, 10 miles away. West Virginia was also out there as well. Afterward, I walked back and visited the visitor center/museum. If you are into park stamps, they have two there for visitors.

Naturally, any visit to such an eclectic and dynamic place (speaking from a waymarking point of view) gets the mind working about the category possibilities. I anticipate about creating at least thirty-five waymarks covering 25 categories including some elusive ones such as the Route 40 and Appalachian categories as well as CCC, & Lookout Towers. The tower just itself is covered in Wikipedia, CCC, Civil War Sites, Washington, Lookout Towers, Scenic Overlooks (or whatever the heck that is called), Then & Now, Picture Postcards, SIRIS, Date Stones, Official Tourist Attractions, Orientation Tables (Well not really part of the tower but located atop the tower, NRHP, Benchmarks, & Superlatives. In case you lost count, that is 14 categories (not including the orientation table) which would become 15 with the Lucky 7 I will most definitely make! Holy cow!

I left, feeling pretty good I actually saw something most people don't even know about. This important historical link to our cultural history as a country is worthy of an NRHP slot and is a must for a bucket list. As I drove on Route 40/The National Road, I began to really reflect on what it must have been like here in 1862. I thought of the battles, the deaths, explosions and the ensuing battles to occur, eventually culminating the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg.

Next Stop: Sharpsburg & Antietam. Stay Tuned...........

Gettysburg Meets the Lincoln Highway

Well, I am back in York, PA looking to expand my presence in the historic district. Tomorrow is when the fun begins. I am traveling back to Gettysburg via the Lincoln Highway. I hope to visit Devil's Den and Little Round Top, both of which I missed when I visited on September 10, 2010. I think I have created about 400 waymarks for this Civil War town so far and have my eye on another 400. I am trying to create a definitive on line resource for travelers and history buffs/novices like myself. With the 150th anniversary of the Civil War upon us, I think this is perfect timing.

I was able to post in so many of my favorite categories which include:

01. Lincoln Highway
02. American Civil War Monuments and Memorials
03. NRHP Historic Districts - Contributing Bldgs
04. Specific Veteran Memorials
05. Smithsonian Art Inventory Sculptures
06. Relief Art Sculptures
07. Static Artillery Displays
08. American Guide Series
09. Statues of Historic Figures
10. Photos Then and Now
11. Signs of History
12. U.S. Civil War Sites
13. Wikipedia Entries
14. Abraham Lincoln

I can certainly cross this off my bucket list. Can you cross it off yours?

Stay Tuned.....

100-Year Old Churches

This Old Church definitely makes its way into my Top 10 favorite categories (along with The Holocaust, Lucky 7, American Civil War Monuments and Memorials, U.S. National Register of Historic Places, Photos Then and Now, NRHP Historic Districts - Contributing Buildings, Zippy the Pinhead, American Guide Series & Lincoln Highway with an honorable mention to Roadside Attractions). Something about these old places of worship brings out the history sleuth in me. I have gone to great length to recover the history of the various churches I have posted, although sometimes I have been unsuccessful.

Finding these old churches also gives me an opportunity to cross post. I look for everything possible and I am sure I always miss something. The big ones I look for are the bell towers, the front doors, crosses, cemeteries, historic markers and signs, NRHP/contributing, specific religious denomination category, Photos Then & Now, spire/benchmarks, stained glass, gates and cornerstones. I usually can get a Lucky 7 from the older churches I visit.

I recently noticed BruceS reached 300 submissions for the This Old Church category as well as yours truly reaching 100. Nice!! So, I got to thinking, who are the main contributors for this category? I did a query. So, here is a list of the leading submitters for the category.

• BruceS 300
• Math Teacher 101
• Marine Biologist 75
• flipflopnick 61
• Norfolk12 84
• silverquill 140
• Brentorboxer 95
• onfire4jesus 40

Happiness is Hometown Waymarking

One of my favorite things about waymarking is when I have an opportunity to 'show off' a favorite part of my time using a waymark as a forum. Invariably this leads to the creation of a waymark which I like to call one of my favorites. I have constructed about four of these which fall into that category. My favorite part of the favorites is the inclusion of a personal narrative which lends a first hand flavor to the site. Sometimes, a first hand narrative can make a waymark especially meaningful and potentially useful to someone in the future seeking information on a specific site. History is recorded by writing to communicate a perspective (supposedly factual) about a place, time or event. I try to treat those personal waymarks like I am an amateur historian documenting a place for future generations to learn about. I know it sounds corny, but that's me!

I wanted to share four places with you, but one place in particular. We have an old meeting house near me called Cropwell Friends Meeting. It was built in 1793 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. I managed to write 9 waymarks for the site. It is still active today and I have attended Meeting for Worship there a few times. I grew up about a mile from this site and never appreciated its history, importance or beauty until waymarking. Cropwell Meeting recently celebrated a 200 year anniversary of their meetinghouse. I attended this gala for a very specific reason, besides to celebrate with the community. I had in my possession a picture from the 100 year anniversary celebration in 1909. I had a mission: Tale a picture from the same exact spot in 2009 for the 200 year celebration. Mission successful! I created one of my favorite waymarks as a Photos Then and Now submission. Check out the picture below:


The pictures may not look like they were taken from the same location but trust me, I got it town to the square inch. The actual waymark can be found HERE.

My other favorites probably only interest me. If you are curious they can be found HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

I would really like to hear from some of you about your favorites you have posted or something you created which particularly makes you proud. I would love to post it here! Thanks and keep on waymarking!

Eric

LowellHouseGang

LowellHouseGuy

When I first began waymarking and checked to see what was posted in my town, LowellHouseGuy was everywhere, or at least that’s what it seemed like to me. I really liked the places he found so I visited his sites and logged all the ones around my home. From that point, I decided to waymark all the interesting sites near me.

LowellHouseGuy is none other than Bill Abrams who was born and raised in Burlington County, NJ. He lived mostly between Bordentown and Maple Shade, then lived in St. Louis and Ft. Devens for few years each. Bill has worked most of his life in IT for RCA/GE. He was educated @ Temple University, Glassboro College (Now called Rowan University) and CCCC.

Bill is a retired partner in a technology training business based outside Albany, NY. He loves to travel and is an active photographer. He actively supports social justice issues especially Kiva.org. Bill started Geocaching in June 2003 and has found caches on the beach in Normandy France, Istanbul Turkey, Kathmandu Nepal, Canada and many states in the USA. In April through May, Bill will be in China!. He has submitted 273 waymarks, and found over 500 caches. Be is always looking for new places to photograph and certainly China will be a perfect place for that. Good Luck!

Here's a beautiful pic taken by Bill:

Lucky 7

For some ungoshly reason, I love to torture myself with Lucky 7s. The category has made me crawl under every rock in search of the elusive seventh waymark. The category asks you to find 7 waymarks from 7 different departments all within .5 mile. Get it within .1 and you get to double your tally. I never did over 7 per waymark, instead hoarding the extras in the hops of creating more. If you search Haddonfield, NJ, you'll see I figured a way to get 12 with several more in queue. When I go to a new area, I am always thinking about creating as many as I can, maximizing the location. GoogleEarth has been a great resource as well for finding a center point in a mass of waymarks.

I noticed on BruceS' blog, A Number of Ways, the absence of the Lucky 7 category in the statistical analysis of top waymarkers in various categories. Naturally, the one thing I am good at did not appear. Thanks Bruce!!! :0). So, I have compiled some statistics for that category in case anyone else on the planet besides me cares.

• There are 485 Lucky 7 waymarks
• 118 different waymarkers have contributed
• 43 waymarkers have more than one post (36%)

I also made a leader board. You can click on each individual waymarker to see their profile.

• Math Teacher 101 (22.4%)
• Saopaulo1 40 (8.2%)
• WayExplorer 17 (3.5%)
• Go Boilers! 14 (2.9%)
• onfire4jesus 11 (2.3%)
• ucdvicky 10 (2.0%)
• NorStar 09 (1.9%)
• bluesnote 08 (1.6%)
• marbill 07 (1.4%)
• Dorcadion Team 05 (1.0%)

Waymarking in New Jersey

I have decided to begin a blog about the collective waymarking efforts in New Jersey by various indigenous waymarkers including yours truly, Math Teacher.  New Jersey boasts many historic sites, structures and buildings as well as being of huge historic significance in the development of our country.  Without waymarking and the many places it has taken me I would never have discovered New Jersey nor my love of local cultural history.

I am hoping some other waymarkers in New Jersey and elsewhere in my east coast corridor will share their stories and experiences with our hobby.  It sure is a lot of fun and I know I have a lot more to discover and learn and I am hoping to share that with all of you, my fellow waymarkers.

Here are a few of my fellow Jersites and their profiles: