Monocacy National Battlefield

Last Saturday, the hubby and I decided we needed to get out of the house and do something. It was a little gray and rainy, but we didn't care. I insisted that our outside activity included a visit to a national park site we hadn't been to yet. We settled on Monocacy National Battlefield for two reasons. The first is that we really like the area where it is located, just outside of Frederick, Maryland. The second is that you have to drive around to look at the sites. Being that it was rainy, we thought this was a good idea. The first place we stopped is the visitor center. We wanted to get ourselves oriented for the rest of the day. The visitor center also had an exhibit about the battle and a small gift shop (so I could get a little souvenir). Some pictures from the exhibits at the visitor center can be seen below.

Guns

The hats that they wore were known as kepis.

Looking out from the visitor center.

Me dressed up like a soldier.

 After we got all the information we needed, we started on the self-guided auto tour. The locations are numbered based on the sequence of the battle. We didn't go on the tour based on that though, we went based on the ease of driving. Our first stop was the Best Farm. I love looking at old houses, and this was one of them on this tour. Some pictures of this stop can be seen below.

The Best House

Trying out black and white pics with my camera. 

Soybeans

Fields of soybeans

Window inside of what might have been an old barn

Inside this old barn, their were little animal tracks

And the animal tracks led to this den like area.
I'm guessing it might be a fox den.

Inside the old barn

Outside of the old barn

Next, we stopped briefly at the 14th New Jersey monument. This marks the approximate center of the Union skirmish line.

 Our next stop was Gambrill Mill. What's nice about visiting this civil war site is that there are some walking trails you can go on. Gambrill Mill has one of those trails, which we decided to walk.

I loved this because it was a huge overgrown
meadow wherethe wheat fields used to be.

Hubby liked this tree because it was 3 in 1.

Bridge mentioned in the previous picture (obviously the burned down one was replaced).

Remnants from the old wheat fields.

Gambrill House is located here. Apparently, this is where the NPS trains
people on how to restore historic houses.

The mill. The visitor's center used to be located here.

Algae covered pond

We next headed to Thomas Farm. Here we hiked on the Thomas Farm Loop Trail and the Middle Ford Ferry Loop Trail. The Thomas Farm Loop Trail goes around what appears to be a still active corn field. The Middle Ford Ferry Loop Trail goes to where  you can see the Monocacy River. We really liked this trail, especially because no one was on it!!

Canadian geese in a cornfield

Barn and silo

Heading towards the trail

Cows from the neighboring farm

Looking back at the barn was we head up the trail

Hubby on the trail with the cornfield to the left

Ear of corn the hubby found

The large cornfield

Playing with the black and white settings again

Hay bale from far next door

It's hard to see, but we saw 8-10 deer feeding in the cornfield

The Monocacy River

On the Middle Ford Ferry Loop Trail

Back onto the Thomas Farm Loop Trail. Do you see the deer?

Looking off the trail into the woods where the deer ran off into

There's a deer in there somewhere

You could see the next stop on the auto tour at a distance from this trail

After that enjoyable hike, we headed to our final stop on the auto tour, the Worthington Farm. There was a really pretty old house. There are also two trails at this stop, but we didn't go on these. We'll save those for next time.

Hubby on the road to the house

Views from near Worthington House

Loved the red color of this house

Hubby in the kepi he insisted on getting at the gift shop

So, you can't actually go into the house. I took this picture thru the glass
next to the front door. Really love the staircase. 

Full view of the house

 Hubby and I really enjoyed our visit to the National Battlefield. If you want to learn more about the actual battle, you can read the brochure (click here). If you are in the D.C. area, this would make a really lovely day trip.