A LITTLE HISTORY Back outside, history lives on in the region’s historic parks and battlefields. Most well-known is the Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg, site of the bloodiest one-day battle in American history. Sharpsburg is also the site of the John Brown Raid Headquarters, where the abolitionist John Brown recruited and trained 21 men for his raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859. And though the town is in West Virginia, the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park stretches across the river into Maryland and represents a great place to learn about the old armory hub. The Western Maryland Scenic Railroad captures the old-time romance of riding the rails and even offers themed adventures including murder mystery dinner trains as you steam through the gorgeous Western Maryland mountainsides. Rail enthusiasts can double up with a trip to the Hagerstown Roundhouse Museum. The Thrasher Carriage Museum offers a fascinating look into the charming history of horse-drawn carriages dating back centuries. If automobiles and nostalgic road trips are more your thing, you can check out the National Road Museum in Boonsboro, which honors the first federal highway—the National Road—which today you know as either Route 40 or Interstate 68. Then there’s the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park and its too-cool C&O Canal towpath, complete with the Paw Paw Tunnel, a 3,118-foot-long tunnel built using 6 million bricks in the 1830s and ‘40s. On your way out, make sure to check out Sideling Hill, a man-made mountain pass on Interstate 68 that shows off more than 100 million years of rock formation. There’s an information center and walking trails for you to stretch your legs. Scenic Railroad @iamjayun Photo: Antietam National Battlefield (Jon Bilous) 72 / VISITMARYLAND.ORG
Maryland Official Visitors Guide 2021 Maryland Official Visitors Guide: Page 72
