Congratulations to Mark Neuberger (deepdish23), Linda Frydl (GeoAPPs), Jennifer Berkau (jab430), Lawrence Potter (lpyankeefan), Bob Jarboe (Phos4s) and Bill Dorman (ZombieHNTR)!
Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area Geotrail
The http://www.heartofthecivilwar.org/geo-trail launched on October 1, 2016, with 16 geocaches within Maryland's Carroll, Frederick, and Washington Counties. The trail is suitable for geocachers of all experience levels. The trail was created by the Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area with the support of a Rural Maryland Council MAERDAF grant. Thanks to the Maryland Geocaching Society and Visit Hagerstown & Washington County for their support in developing this trail.
GC Codes:
GC6NP6W
GC6NP82
GC6THGJ
GC6NP85
GC6NP6E
GC6NP7M
GC6NP7F
GC6NP7B
GC6NP73
GC6NP6V
GC6NP77
GC6NP7T
GC6NP6P
GC6NP6K
GC6NP68
GC6NP62
Where it's located: Multiple historic locations in Carroll, Frederick, and Washington counties.
Favorite Points: Multiple favorite points ranging from 2-30
Description:
You're invited to take a journey through the Maryland's Heart of the Civil War.
The Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area (HCWHA) is an area rich in history, covering portions of Carroll, Frederick and Washington Counties. It is located just below the Mason-Dixon Line, generally viewed as the dividing line between North and South, and above the Potomac River. With one foot in the north, and one foot in the south, the story of the Civil War can be told nowhere better than in this part of Maryland.
No state experienced the Civil War quite like Maryland. Residents of this border state contributed significant resources to both sides of the war effort. Although large portions of the state’s economy relied upon slavery, Maryland lawmakers did not vote to secede from the Union at the outset of the war—though many did not have the opportunity to vote, as they were detained by the federal government because of suspected Confederate sympathies.
Between 1861 and 1865, the Civil War impacted nearly every Maryland resident. Some families faced financial ruin after troops ravaged their land. Thousands of fathers, sons and brothers became casualties of war. For enslaved Marylanders, the conflict ultimately brought about freedom as the new state constitution of November 1864 abolished the practice.
Marylanders witnessed three major military movements during the Civil War: the Maryland (also known as Antietam) Campaign in the fall of 1862, the Gettysburg Campaign in the summer of 1863, and the march to Washington led by Jubal Early in the summer of 1864. Geocachers can visit significant sites from each of these three operations on the Heart of the Civil War GeoTrail.
The mission of the Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area is to promote the stewardship of our historic, cultural, and natural Civil War resources; encourage superior visitor experiences; and stimulate tourism, economic prosperity, and educational development, thereby improving the quality of life in our community for the benefit of both residents and visitors.
The Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area Geotrail launched October 1st, 2016 with 15 geocaches within Maryland's Carroll, Frederick, and Washington Counties. A trackable geocoin will be awarded to the first 200 geocachers, (while supplies last), who find the locations of at least 13 HCWHA caches. To be eligible for the coin, geocachers must download a passport from the Heart of the Civil War website http://www.heartofthecivilwar.org/geo-trail, and record the code word from at least 13 HCWHA geocaches. Geocachers may have their passports validated in person at the Newcomer House http://www.heartofthecivilwar.org/newcomer-house at Antietam National Battlefield or at the Visitor Centers in Westminster http://carrollcountytourism.org/visitor-center/, Frederick https://www.visitfrederick.org/visit/visitor-center/, or Hagerstown http://www.visithagerstown.com/. Please refer to the passport for Visitor Center hours and complete validation instructions.
Please note following change. A free prize will still be given to a geocacher who goes to at least 13 HCWHA geocaches and records the code in each of the geocaches on their passport. In addition, geocachers may purchase a trackable Geocoin for $10 at one of the following locations: Frederick Visitor Center, Hagerstown-Washington County Visitor Welcome Center, or Antietam Museum Store. Each of these locations will verify passports by mail and send a coin for a modest handling fee. Call for more information.
Selected Finder logs:
HCWHA - South Mountain View
Caretaker5: Greetings from Northeast Ohio, I'm in the area to follow the new "Heart of the Civil War GeoTrail". This is my next cache stop along my route, and it gets me back on the trail after finding several other interesting caches since my last HCWHA cache. It was a quick find, as I was able to park almost right on it, and the view over the valley was spectacular. SL TFTC
HCWHA - Fox's Gap
Team Thirtydale: This one is truly off the beaten path! The coords take you to such a significant place from the Civil War -- 2 generals, one from each side, were killed here. There are monuments to each man. We found ourselves thinking about the very young soldiers who had less than a month's training and found themselves in the middle of Hell. The route to GZ will take you up the Appalachian Trail about 70 yards before you veer off to locate the hint. Great hide, once you get there. GPS coords are accurate for GZ. Dropped a couple of Team Thirtydale path tags. TFTC!
HCWHA - Gathland State Park
Stamp My Art: #6286 @ 2:10:00 PM - Met up with Pens66 and headed south on this rainy day to complete the Heart of the Civil War series in our neighboring state of Maryland.
I love when Geocaching takes you to new and interesting places and I love to learn about history while actually being in the area where it took place. This was a great series with lots of amazing sites to see and such great historic information. I really enjoyed reading the details as we made our way through the series and thank all who played a part in putting this all together.
Thank you also for the awesome coin that we earned when completing the series. We left our home area early so that we could complete the entire series in a day and were able to accomplish that while still taking time to get photos and read about each area…….. haha, and had a fun day exploring the sites of Maryland.
13 of 18 - Another walk along the Application Trail, and a surprise at this cache was the hello we saw on the log! And a shout back at NBC and M2ny. Sad and interesting history. Learning so much today.
Thank you mdcivilwar for placing and maintaining your cache for us to find!
• ´ ¨ ) ) -:¦:-
¸ . • ´ . • ´ ¨ ¨ ) )
( ( ¸ ¸ . • ´ . . • ´ -:¦:- ~ Stamp My Art ~ -:¦:-
-:¦:- ( ( ¸ ¸ . • ´ It's about quality not quantity,
because the true adventure is in the doing!
HCWHA - Mount Olivet Cemetery
CachFire: The GeoKids and I started this very nice geotrail last week. We really enjoyed ourselves, so we weren't going to let the 19 degree temperature stop us from finding a few more today. This was our second stop along the trail and proved to be our favorite. We had no idea that there were Civil War veterans here. Confederate Row was really something to see. The nearby chapel was lovely too. TFTC
HCWHA - Newcomer House
Dadsoutnumbered: What an amazing place. Was out caching with TazScouter and LpYankeeFan on an awesome afternoon to be out and about. Made the quick find then headed inside for more of a history lesson from the volunteer inside. The volunteer here is awesome and great to talk too. Antietam has so much history and every time I am here I learn something new. TFTC and the amazing series.
TripMeister: The volunteer in the Newcomer House really made the day for us! He shared his metal detecting finds from the day before. Very cool house and history. Thanks.
HCWHA - Union Mills Homestead
Mjb007: What a cool place. I was here for the cache, but got distracted by the water wheel, then the water race, then the cool pond. After finally getting the cache, I checked out the outside of the building. I think it would definitely be worth a trip back when they are open for tours. Definitely a favorite! TFTC mjb007
HCWHA - Westminster
Jab430: Best hide of the trail! Brilliant hiding spot! What a lovely little place tucked into downtown Westminster. Getting a favorite for sure. The hiders of this one should give themselves a pat on the back!
