One-tank road trips: May 2008 Archives

Dunker Church at Antietam (photo by Scott Mingus)

Today, I took my two-year-old grandson and his uncle (my younger son) to the Antietam National Battlefield for the day. The weather was delightful - sunny and warm, and the comraderie outstanding. We were disappointed that our favorite fast food restaurant in the area was out of business (Fazoli's in Hagerstown) and replaced by a Roy Rogers (which we hate). We ended up at Mickey D's... quite a come down from Fazoli's all-you-can-eat breadsticks!

York County's 130th Pennsylvania marched past the venerable old Mountain House inn at Turner's Gap on South Mountain on September 15, 1862. Today, this establishment is still in operation and offers some of the best food in the central Maryland region. Its now peaceful appearance is in sharp contrast to the horrifying view the young York soldiers had as they passed by this old stone inn after the Battle of South Mountain.
Background post: Pvt. Ed Spangler

Private Ed Spangler was a relatively fresh recruit in the 130th Pennsylvania Infantry. During the Maryland Campaign of September 1862, he saw the horrors of war for the first time as he tramped up the eastern slope of South Mountain toward the battlefield at Turner's Gap.