From the New Jersey Monument at Monocacy.

104 years old, the Brunswick Marc station is another former B&O station on the lines from both DC and Baltimore to Harper’s Ferry.   Today with no western passenger service out of Baltimore, it serves DC commuters on the MARC line.

Just a monday morning shot of two trains .   The white sign reads,”close clearance”

In Thurmont, just north of the downtown area, MDP found a tank and couldn’t help but stop to take a picture.

I very much like the re-use of an old railroad section to create this barrier at the Point of Rocks station.

Just got a few pictures back from my trip to point of rocks.  While i could clearly see the train in the viewfinder, in the finished shot all there is is glare.like it better this way.

Sorry for the late post today.  You can probably guess where this picture came from

A plaque from the Frederick County landmarks foundation.

Well, I can’t reveal yesterday’s secret baseball location due to the fact that those pictures are trapped on a computer that I can not access right now.  Luckily I had this shot from Point of Rocks in reserve.   We’ll cover the baseball next week.

Sorry for the missed posts last week.  I would like to say they were caused by some sort of technical issue, but the only issue was the scheduling of time at MDP HQ.   This week we’re back with some interesting historical areas.

Yesterday MDP was driving down I-270, which if you follow it all the way, requires you to cut through the battlefield of Monocacy.  So, we’ll start off this week with a monument from the battlefield.  This one was placed here on the centennial of the battle.

Late post today so I am quickly pulling up another bridge picture.   Here you can see the single diagonal truss that holds up the small roddy road bridge.  I know… enough with the bridges.

Just a note,  I have more interesting pictures from Mt. Pleasant, and I even have more pics from Point of Rocks to share in the weeks ahead.   For now, a bit of history about Point of Rocks.  This is today the site where the mainline of the B&O splits to continue towards baltimore or to turn south towards Washington DC.  The station and this sign sit right behind the split, so to the to the station is not possible without crossing over tracks.   

The station was designed by Francis Baldwin and was finished in 1876 at around the same time that the split in the main line was created to take the tracks to DC.   Today the mainline to Baltimore still carries freight and the subdivision to DC carries frieght as well as MARC traffic and Amtrak.  

Prior to being known for it’s sceninc combinations of switches and it’s great station, this area was known for being the site where confederates captured a supply chain in the civil war.  There is more civil war history in Point of Rocks, but it doesn’t take place at  the station and we will discuss that in the future.

The Point of Rocks B&O station

How else did MDP spend it’s fourth of July weekend?     By travlling to one of our state’s most famous rail stations.

I have so many more bridge pictures.  However, it’s time for this first bridge week to come to an end.  As is usual for these theme weeks the extra pics will start to appear in the regular MDP rotation for the next few months.   All over the state there are celebrations and exhibits that will appear between now and 2015 to commemorate the 150th anniversarry of the Civil War.   While we are still a little shy of 150 years since Gettysburg, the first three days of July are cause for cermony in any year.    Today’s shot, which was taken outside of the Loy’s Station is “bridging” the theme of covered bridges with gettysburg, as this sign denotes that Union soldiers marched north through this location on their way first to Emmitsburg and then to the battle.

Today we are visiting the Utica covered bridge.  The southenmost of the three bridges, it is located about midway between Frederick and Thurmont.   The Utica covered bridge originally spanned the Monocacy river.  It was damaged by a flood in 1889 and what remained was moved to this spot.

This is a shot from the inside of the Loy’s Station bridge.  Though, it’s park setting and 360 degree accessibility make this the most picturesque of all three Frederick bridges, it’s unfortunately not 100% original.  Two arsonists burned the bridge in 1991.  While many of the timbers are from the first bridge, much of it is new.

There are 6 covered bridges that survive in Maryland today.   We’ve visited one of them already, the Jericho covered bridge which spans between Baltimore County and Harford County.    There are two more in Cecil County, and there are three in Frederick County, which we will visit this week.

From Brunswick we have today’s sign picture. Like many old storefronts in towns that have historic charm, this paint store has been turned into an antique shop.

As it’s almost memorial day, it seemed like a good time to show some of the pictures I have from the various war memorials across the state.   Not necessarily a memorial, we are going to start with a  picture dedicated to the veterans in Brusnwick MD.

This tank is situated right in the median of a street in Brunswick. The town has two main festivals each year: Rail days and Memorial day.   Unlike our other posts, this one concerns memorial day.   This street, which is lined with homes on either side features a full selection of war memorials running down it’s lenght.  It’s really quite impressive.

Brunswick is inseparably linked to it’s railroad past. The town served as a major yard for the B&O as it does today for CSX.  For years it was the terminal point for the large coal trains, whose massive steam engines would be switched here to go back into service over the mountains of West Virginia while smaller motors dragged coal to port in Baltimore.

There was a massive brick roundhouse in Brunswick that housed many of the legendary steam engines of the past.  Today the roundhouse is gone, but it’s turntable remains as seen on the right hand side of this picture.

If there’s one thing that Brunswick has in excess, it’s churches. The town is full of them.  This one, which has some amazing stained glass windows has been re-purposed. Today it serves as a coffee shop called, “beans in the belfry”

I mentioned last week that MDP recently took a long train ride.  While last week’s picture was from out of state, today’s pictures are from inside the state as seen from the train just before crossing the Potomac.

I am fascinated by the stone construction that dominates the architecture of the older homes along the C&O canal.  There is a particularly high concentration of the rugged homes around Brunswick, MD.

As promised, this is one of the pictures of the Monocacy battlefield that we are mixing in to the flow of future posts.    In this particular picture, which is taken just outside the visitor center, a park ranger is demonstrating how cannons were loaded and fired.  There was actually a team of five firing the cannon and a Maryland Daily Photographer happily volunteered to take that job.

This is the Thomas Farm.  This field was was held by both sides, back and forth throughout the afternoon.  To your left is where the Worthington Farm, as pictured yesterday, is located. To your right is where the Union formed their lines to meet the confederates.  Straight ahead is the tree line that marks the river.

The red house that is here obscured by trees is the actual Thomas house, which was occupied at times by Union sharpshooters.  To the far right, well off the side of the picture is the Gambrill Mill, which was the site of the Unions field hospital.

Behind you (although pretty far behind you) is Washington, and to the right would be  Baltimore.  Keep in mind that this battle was being fought by Wallace with many untrained soldiers and with 7 cannons against 15,000 regular Confederates and their 40 guns.  It’s doubtful that union commanders on this field thought that they could win the battle after they understood that they were fighting an entire corps of the enemy army.  Still the battle waged on, delaying the confederate advance until they finally broke the Union line in the late afternoon.

While it was being fought, troops were being rushed to Washington from Virginia to protect the defenseless city. The  union soldiers on this field held back the larger opposing force for the entire afternoon.  By the time the battle had ended, the Confederates would have to make camp for the night and continue on their way to DC the next morning.  The battle cost them a day, and it was just enough to allow DC to protect itself before the attack.

There are a lot more stories about this battle that I haven’t shared.  While I’ve focused on the river, the bridges, and the crossing, I’ve really only covered the center and the left of the Union line.  There is a history on the right flank as well.   I have pictures of specific places and specific things on the field that were not appropriate for this overview and that I’ll trickle into the future MDP flow of things.  I hope that some of you can stop by the battlefield, check out the visitor center, and see it for yourself.

We are now on the south side of the river. The treeline that is directly in front and moving to the right of this picture is on the banks of the Monocacy river.  Straight ahead is where the confederates crossed the river, and about half a mile behind us is where Wallace’s men were.

Wallace’s Union soldiers had known that the confederates were coming.  They laid waiting not too far back from here in a concealed position and attacked the Cavalry as it first moved in.  The line of battle would remain just a little behind where this picture was taken in a place called Thomas farm.

Today’s picture is Worthington farm.  It was occupied by confederates from the moment they arrived there until the end of the battle. As the fighting waged on, and the confederate infantry arrived, this field and the farmhouse, as pictured below, were used as a confederate field hospital.  This was also the position from which  the artillery would attack the Union soldiers just to the east.

Today the field between Thomas farm, where the lines of battle were, and Worthington Farm, pictured today is cut in two by I-270.  Trees lining the highway prevent one from standing here at Worthington Farm and looking out at the Thomas farm.

I would encourage everyone to go to the visitors center, wherein there is an excellent topographical battlefield diorama, which lights up to show the battles progression throughout the day.

Of the three battle monuments at the field today the 14th New Jersey Infantry’s monument is the most substantial.  It’s placed where the hardest action occurred during the first phase of the battle of July 9th.  It is essentially the spot where the canon from yesterday’s picture is aimed.  To your right are the railroad tracks and to the left is the river.   Most of Wallace’s union troops were on the other side of the river, to the south.  Most of early’s were across the tracks on the right, to the north.

Wallace had Skirmishing units in this spot on the north side of the river and only the covered bridge to tie them with the rest of the army.  In this area between the tracks and the river, the men of the 14th New Jersey held back the confederates from the bridge.

Of course, there were two problems for the Union defenders.  The overwhelming number of confederates was one problem.  But the other problem was that Jubal Early directed his cavalry to find another way across the river to get to the bulk of the union forces.  They found one just a mile or so downriver and suddenly the confederates brought a two sided attack.    Once the cavalry found a way across, a confederate infantry division found its way across and the fiercest fighting began on the other side of the river.

To avoid facing a battle on two sides, the union troops burned the covered bridge connecting the two banks of the river at this point.  The soldiers left here on the north side fought as long as they could until they had to retreat by struggling across the railroad bridge.

This isn’t a story about trains (I know you are upset) but they do play a major role.

On June 29, 1864 news came of a Confederate invasion of Maryland.  It was news that came from the station officers to the president of the B&O railroad.

That man, John W. Garrett, then tried to lobby Washington for support and protection of the railroad between Frederick, where the confederates were, and Washington DC, which was possibly where they were going.

General Grant had moved almost all of the garrisons out of DC to help support his campaign through Virginia.  This left DC unguarded from the north.   Lee  had split his army, as we was wont to do from time to time.  Lee and much of his army would be fighting off Grant’s advance in Virginia, while he tasked Jubal Early to secure the Shenandoah valley, cross into Maryland, and take DC from the North.

You may remember Jubal Early as the namesake of the boat at White’s Ferry.

While nobody in Washington could help Garrett, his notice did serve as a warning for Grant to move troops back north to protect the district.  Meanwhile, Garrett did attract the attention of Lew Wallace, the Union General who was situated in Baltimore at the time.    Wallace moved his troops westward between Jubal Early in Frederick and his otherwise completely open path to DC.

He settled at a place called Monocacy Junction.  The monocacy river has been pictured so many times on this website that it should have its own category.  So if you are wondering if there’s a connection, there is.   Monocacy junction was a point just south of Frederick and along the Monocacy river.  At this place there was crucial railroad junction of tracks moving to Frederick and to the west as well as a bridge moving the tracks over the river and east to Baltimore.  This was a part of the B&O main line.

Just as the confederates previously attempted to destroy the aqueduct where the C&O canal crossed the Monocacy river, they frequently chose the railroad bridge over the Monocacy as another favorite target.   From this junction, Wallace could protect the critical bridge but he could also safely assume that the confederates would pass by on their way to either Baltimore or DC.   It was a good place to make a nuisance for the invaders and it was a place from which he could also the move to defend either city.

At the junction there was also a covered bridge to take a roadway over the river.  It was the only practical means of getting across the river if you weren’t on a train.  Wallace’s 2,800 troops set in to protect the junction and the nearby bridges over the Monocacy river.  Most of his troops were on the south bank of the river and Early was coming from the North.

By the morning of July 9, Early brought the first of his 15,000 confederate troops to within a mile of the junction and the bridges.  He laid his artillery out between what is today the north end of the battlefield park, and an area to the southwest known as Best Farm, after the family that owned it.  This picture is taken from Best farm.  The canon you see is in the position that one of those confederate cannons would have been just after the first shots were fired.  To the right of this picture, trees obscure the railroad tracks that run directly behind them and the river that runs just 100 feet or so beyond the tracks.

Lew Wallace, his men, and their 7 cannons would spend the day fighting off 15,000 confederates and 40 cannons. (only 19 of which were used)  Outnumbered from the start, they had little chance of protecting the railroad assets.  What they could do was use the geography of the area to delay Early as long as possible while Union troops continued to move from Petersburg up to DC, hoping to be in position to defend the city before Early could get there.

Going back to another old favorite today: The Monocacy aqueduct.    Today’s picture is unique in that it’s from the inside of the aqueduct, where the canal waters flowed.

As part of MDP’s continuing efforts to photograph its way up and down the C&O canal, here is what’s left of lock 33 and it’s keeper’s house, located just north of the bridge to Harper’s Ferry.

This outrigging belongs to the previously pictured railroad bridge between Harper’s Ferry and MD.  I am a fan of the picutre becasue it shows the masss of wires that used to be needed for communication across the river at key points.  I’m also interested becasue there are no more insulators on that post.   Typically those little posts would all have a glass insulator sitting on top of them.  The wires would then wrap around the insulator, preventing their contact with each other and with the support structure.    You see a lot of these insulators for sale in antique shops and other places.   So when I see this I have to wonder if some collector made his way out there to pluck the insulators off of each of those posts so that they could earn themselves a dollar or two a piece.

From the tunnel through the Maryland Heights cliffs, this bridge and it’s sister to the north pass into harper’s ferry.  You can actually walk along this bridge next to the tracks as it crosses the Potomac. 

How can I get away with this picture?  Am I in West Virginia? 

I can get away with this becacuse,from shore to shore, the Potomoac (excluding the part of the river flowing through DC) is considered part of the state of Maryland.   With it, this bridge is in Maryland.  

This is Strong Mansion, which is located on Sugarloaf Mountain.  The house, like the town of Stronghold at the foot of the mountain, was named after Gordon Strong who owned the mountain at the begining of the 20th century.  It seems odd for one person to own a mountain, but it is somewhat common.   (While not owned by a person, the summit of Backbone Mountain, the highest point in MD is owned by a coal company.)  

In October, people flock to the countryside to pick up pumpkins from the patch.   It’s a time when people remember how much of the state is actually occupied by farmland, either for cows, crops or horses.   This isn’t a pumpkin farm, but it’s a nice picture.  I especially like the cows lying down in the top left, a sign of poor weather to come. 

Well, nobody guessed what was different about the bridge in yesterday’s picture.   So I will show you here.   It turns out that all of those stones are actually just painted in.   

It is called the Mural Bridge and both sides of it, as well as the walkways underneath the bridge are painted to look like a stone bridge.  However, there is more.  There are tons of little extras just like this butterfly painted into it as well, but they are only visible when you move in to look closely.   

Does anybody know why this bridge in Frederick is unique?

Congratulations to Bryan for correctly guessing yesterday’s steeple location.   I was considering finishing out the week with a number of different, “guess the steeple” posts, but I had second thoughts.

Today’s post is going of in a completely different direction, far north-west of College Park.  This is Cunningham Falls state park, a 5,000 acre park situated in the Catoctin mountains.   While the Catoctin National Park to the north of Cunningham Falls gets much of the fame and the spotlight as it is the home of Camp David, is neighbor offers some excellent sites as well as a glimpse into the area’s past.  You can hike to the falls themselves, climb to the top of the mountain range, or visit the only remaining iron furnace in the area.   Obviously, mdp has done few of these things.   So what we have to offer you is this appealing and welcoming sign. 

This is sunset over the Monocacy River.  This picture was taken from the top of the Aqueduct that you can see in Monday’s picture. 

 Sorry for the late post again, still working on internet issues at headquarters.

This is the view from the summit of Sugarloaf Mountain – 1282 feet.  The hike up to the top gets quite steep, but the trail has been improved to include some steps and even railings at some points.  From this summit you can see the Monocacy Valley stretching out beneath the mountain. 

During the Cival War, the Confederate and Union troops both at times used the view from this summit as a lookout for advancing troops through the Monocacy valley.