Maryland Daily PhotoEvery Week Day a New Picture from MD

Sort of related to the rest of the week’s posts, right.  It’s red.

It’s from just a bit south of this picture, in Hancock, part of the thinnest piont in MD. 

Burnside’s Bridge is named for General Ambrose Burnside, the Union general who ultimately captured the bridge during the battle at Antietam.   It took him and his troops more than three hours to capture the bridge.  It is still debated today whether it would have made sense for him to take his men through the water instead of over the bridge.  In fact, in 1994 a group of cadets from West Point attempted to cross through the water (instead of over the bridge) in similar conditions to those that Burnside would have experienced.  They found that, even though the water was only 3 feet deep, getting up and over the steep embankment on the other side proved difficult (and time consuming) enough to make crossing the bridge instead a valid option. 

The bridge is no longer in use today for traffic, but is part of the Antietam National Battlefield tour and provides, as seen above, some great photo opportunities.  Also named for General Ambrose Burnside: Sideburns.  And if you look at the Bio below, I think you’ll see why:

http://www.civilwarhome.com/burnbio.htm

Here is a shot of the War Memorial in Thurmont, which can be see by looking directly to the left if you are walking down Main St. in the direction of the last Thurmont picutre. 

Here’s Boonsboro, MD.  Founded in, as you can see in the sign, 1792.   I thought it was a nice town when I drove through.  However, after some research on the internet, I’ve confirmed it is not only a nice town but also an interesting town.  You can read more here, but two intersting claims to fame include: the town’s having built the first monument to George Washington and the fact that the town was named after two Boones who were cousins of Daniel Boone. 

While most of the population went east for Memorial Day, MDP went west.  If you are keeping track, the western-most post we’ve had so far was in Hancock.  Moving past hancock, the first thing you find on I-68 is Sideling Hill, and the Sideling hill cut.  This is the deepest road cut in Maryland.  There is a visitor’s center which I almost visited.   There were plenty of sites to visit to the west and an apointment to be kept, so the visitor’s center was shelved for the return trip, but the rain kept that from happenening.   Just something else to which I can look forward. 

Saturday (tomorrow) is national train day, so stations and museums across the country will be having special train-related events; good for kids, good for adults, good for adults that act like kids.  Just don’t act too much like a kid in Hagerstown, or you might end up in this building.    

You know this is a police department because of the police cars strewn out about the lot in front.  However, you can probably guess the former purpose of this building.  Built in 1912, this was the Western Maryland Railroad’s Hagerstown train station.   As the WM stopped serving passengers here, it became administrative offices for the railroad.  After the consolidation of the WM into the Chessie System, with the merged B&O and C&O (the latter of which was sadly based out of Virginia)  the building fell out of use.  In the ‘70’s the town of Hagerstown renovated it (obviously pulling up any remaining tracks) and it later became the Police Department headquarters.  Like so many historic buildings that have recently seen a new life, I suppose we have to be grateful that it is still standing, even if not for its original purpose.   In this case, I am happy that they retained features like the platform and overhang, which retain a taste of the building’s railroad heritage. 

When we had the Hagerstown lamp contest, one MDP reader, who was too afraid to post, called me and asked if it was that town by Camp David. (he later posted)  While Hagerstown isn’t too far from Camp David, he was referring to this town, Thurmont.   Here is the Main St. in Thurmont, which looks like it runs right into a mountain.   In the background is the Catoctin Mountain park, where Camp David is located.  While that park is operated by the NPS, just to its south, or to the left of this picture, is Cunningham Falls State Park.  Either way, the lamp posts in Thurmont are unfortunately modern. 

I hope everyone’s enjoyed the trip to Hancock.  I’ve certainly enjoyed reliving it this week.  Thanks for all the comments.  We’ll definitely try to make some more theme weeks.   I’ve started a new job this week, and its allowed me plenty of time to think of how to satisfy some of your wishlist request, so don’t worry, they are in the works.    For now, you’ve all had a good trip throuh Hancock, its time to sit back and enjoy some time at Weaver’s. 

Weaver’s seems to be a Hancock institution.   The roast beef sandwich and club sandwiches were good, but I think we were missing out by not ordering something covered in gravy.  Take note for next time.  The deserts are also supposed to be delicious.   It’s mentioned in multiple tour books for Maryland and it’s even quoted as a “trail favorite” in the C&O canal biking guide.  I’m sure the updated version of the guide will include updated instructions on the kind of company to keep on the trail, as demonstrated by Chris.    http://bikewashington.org/canal/print.php

I hope you have enjoyed the tour of Hancock as much as I did.  Please don’t think that there were only 5 pictures taken there.  There were plenty more and you should look forward to some great shots of the post office, the C&O canal, flags, and an awesome road sign.  I’ll throw them in between future posts.  

That speed limit sign is firmly on Maryland soil.  However, I was treading on thin Ice and was close to falling into another state as I took this picture.   It’s about as close as you are going to get to encompassing the state in one shot.   We are looking due south.  The town of Hancock is tucked away in a “valley” down there, as is the Potomac.   To give you some point of reference for the field, the mountains in the background are in West Virginia and between those mountains and this speed limit sign is 1.7 miles of old line state.  

Along the trip up to Pennsylvania, from the Potomac, you will find a few interesting stores.  The trip by the way, involves a hike along a road that is appropriately named, Pennsylvania Avenue.  I stopped into the Antiques mall, which also has a flea market and pizza shop.  It’s one of the more popular shops.  There’s also a strip mall with a video rental shop, and there’s a branch of a large regional bank for which the author of this post used to work. 

However, all that glitz and glamour can be found in any town.   Here’s the unique gem of Hancock which I like because, straight down to the car in the lot, it looks like it did many decades ago.