Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg

Fantastically preserved battlefield. I stopped on a Sunday, got my passport stamp and decided to do a self guided tour following the easy to locate signs along the roads throughout the park. The visitor center was under construction but the temporary one was just as good. I spent nearly two hours at the park but needed much more time. At least a day to see everything and probably longer to actually walk the many trails they have. I will be making my way back again as soon as I can to this wonderful park.

The guided tour was ✨amazing✨ and I learned so much! The best part about it was the guide who was so great at his delivery of information that we (me and my father) were thoroughly entertained the whole time. I'll suggest to others that may be thinking about getting a guided tour to definitely go ahead and do it. It's an investment and you will not be let down, every single ranger and guide in this park knows more than you'd even think to ask. Our guide had a sheet that broke down damages claimed by the farmers and converted it into what the cost was in today's money―it was so thorough. The park itself is beautifully maintained with active restoration efforts being made constantly. I have so far visited this location three times and I have always seen improvements being made to either the monuments, the visitor's center or the park itself. There is also a huge bonus to birders out there! Antietam has an amazing bird population with a nest box program to aid the swallows and help control the many insects common to farmlands. If you're interested in the US Civil War, want to support preservation efforts and just want to have a nice quiet day of learning in a beautiful environment, come here. Come here and spend all your money on the tour and at the gift shop. That's exactly what I did and I have no regrets.

A must visit for American History enthusiasts! Definitely worth the $10 price of admission. There are many monuments dedicated to troops from Delaware, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Connecticut, etc. and just a handful of Confederate monuments. Antietam reminds me of a smaller Gettysburg which is a good thing because the landscape isn’t overwhelmed with too many monuments and memorials. The visitor center was in a temporary building as the new visitor center will be up in the fall of 2022. They have a Junior Ranger program for the kids. I’d recommend at least two days here but a lot can be covered with the driving tour. The battlefields are very well maintained. Make sure to visit Burnside Bridge and the Observation Tower!

We arrived and stopped at the temporary visitor center. There is construction at the real visitor center but the temporary one was laid out very well with a gift shop, maps, displays , a movie presentation , and friendly informative park rangers. & rest rooms. We started the auto tour and listened to the app ( qr code can be scanned in visitor center) at each tour stop. We started at the Dunkin Church. You can go in and look around. We continued to the rest of the tour stops. This is a very interesting tour and the videos for each stop really gave a lot of info. Excellent views and scenery. It took us about 1 1/2 hours to see all the stops and listen to the videos. Great preservation of history. ( entry fee was $20 for one car and was worth it).

I went there with friends today to explore the trails associated with the national landmarks. The start of the trail by Dunker Church, the Woods Trail, is very beautiful and green. The trails run along farm land with crops and cows nearby. There are beautiful fields are flowers and forest lined hills for miles to see. The observation tower was cool to help you get a vantage point of the all the area. The main parking area is where the tours start, but there are national park representatives at each landmark on the map. You can get a map at visitor center where there are bathrooms and a souvenir shop. The experience is expansive. So, it is designed to be driveable, but there are ways to walk along all the trails to see the various landmarks and trails connected to specific battle experiences in the park. It was a good experience and everyone was very nice!