Museum Closeup - relic pyramid

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Last September, just in time for the 150th we opened the new exhibit gallery in the Visitor Center Museum.  This space allowed us to get some pretty cool stuff on display.

One of the real hits with visitors is the "relic pyramid"

In the years following the war a sort of relic-based folk art became popular, and the designs were quite unique.

We acquired, from Gettysburg of all  places, three relic "pyramids" that had been made in the years following the battle of Antietam.  All of the attached items were salvaged from the battlefield in the days before the National Park (ahem...remember that relic collecting is a prohibited activity today).

The results are pretty fantastic and we put the best of the three on display.

Here are some close-up views for you.

The tall one only had one good side, so we used the middle-sized one to the left which had three really cool sides packed with stuff.

The closer you get the more you see.  Don't forget to click on any of these images for an even 

larger view.

An elongated case shot with a ball still in the matrix.

Belt plate, Bormann fuse, bullets.

Letters, numbers and a nice carbine shell.

Here's something you don't see too often; a Williams cleaner-bullet with the zinc disc still intact.

A battered paper cartridgte.  Note how this stuff was just nailed on.

A bullet in a piece of wood.

A flattened Burton ball from the East Woods.

A shoulder scale.

The copper sabot for a Mullane projectile.

A sword pommel.

...and Lincoln!

An eagle breast-plate...

and a State of New York belt plate.

A cool find; the blue wool is still intact on this button!

The shackle from a Carbine belt

A horses bridle bit.

How cool is that?

Come see for yourself, just north of Sharpsburg.

Ranger Mannie