There were farmers here

When you explore the battlefield, look closely and you'll find evidence everywhere of hard work from an earlier era.  This was, is, and hopefully always will be a valley of farms and farmers. The farm families that are long gone left distinctive, and strangely beautiful, evidence behind.  

I remember how these used to squeal when pushing the big barn doors open when I was a kid in Michigan.

A long gone gate left behind an iron hinge.  One can just imagine the day it was pounded into a newly-hewn timber on what was to be a productive family farm visited one September day by an incredible calamity.

Where tractor parts are found in the nooks and crannies of a 20th century farm, the detritus of horse culture still form the sculpture of Antietam's farmscape.

There's always so much to discover at your National Park.

Ranger Mannie