Antietam - Part 2

June 21 -Not an overly exciting day but great weather!  Bill left for his 4 hours at Ferry Hill, where he said they had the record high of 20 before he left AND those mice must have a secret passage way as there were 2 again in the same trash can.  He met some folks who provided info on area things, including a Mennonite bakery in Sharpsburg that we had yet to hear of.

 

While he was gone I baked flax chia crackers, made a ganache tart, cleaned several grills and campsites, put the shims in to alleviate the squeak in our bedroom floor, talked to Karen and got my shower.  Molly enjoyed a couple of hours in her hut outside, so all in all it was a good 4 hours.

 

Newcomer House

Once Bill got back and changed from his volunteer shirt we headed back to the last 2 places related to Antietam Battlefield that we didn’t go to yesterday.  We stopped at the Newcomer House, which was once a big farm along the Antietam Creek where a portion of the battle was fought.  The house has a huge memorial statue of Lee on his horse in the side yard facing the main road.  When he donated or sold the property to the National Park Service it was with a contractual stipulation that it not be removed.  The park service was not happy but the house was/is in excellent condition so they agreed.  The issue about the statue is that Lee was not at the battle, he was on the other side of Sharpsburg AND he was not on horse at that time due to wrist injuries he sustained falling from his horse.  He was transported for a time in a cart.  The park service didn’t want it there since it is not historically accurate, but it’s still a nice statue.

 

Pry House



Further down the road was the Pry House.  It was taken over by the Union and made into a field hospital and headquarters displacing the owner and his family of 7.  Now it is a medical museum about the types of medicines and cures used, as well as the development of medical ambulances.  After the Union left the owner applied for reimbursement for the loss of his crops, his livestock, his furniture, fences, etc., and did not receive fair compensation and had to sell his farm and move his family back to Tennessee.

 

Our final adventure for the day was to try and find the bakery.  The directions were sketchy and the town isn’t that big.  We drove around the block once and no luck so stopped at someone’s house and asked and we had passed it but it was not on the side of the road we were looking at.  The bakery is behind the owner’s house and so we went in once we found it and Bill got big cookies, chocolate milk and ate a doughnut there.  I got a tiny bag of small cookies, gingersnaps, and some half and half.  They carried milk products from a local creamery.  We tried my gingersnaps and they were good but not enough ginger for my tastes.

 

Molly and I are now sitting outside, me with my wine and netbook and her in her hut.  It’s time to start thinking about dinner so best get to it so I can catch up posting later.