The Winter Season

The holiday season, with all of the family groups visiting the park is now past. The Park rangers now have the opportunity to start catching up on tasks that have been deferred through the busy season of spring, summer, and fall. A variety of projects are underway over this very productive winter. New trails are being cleared and the accompanying brochures are in production, new programs are being written, living history groups are getting scheduled for the big 145th battle anniversary next September, and the Junior Ranger and teacher packets are being redesigned...that's where I come in.

One of the talents that lurk in my resume is that of "cartoonist". I've been cartooning since highschool. I've been able to utilize this talent in museum settings, clasrooms, and newspapers. Now, I've been tapped to illustrate our junior ranger workbooks as well as our teacher packets...the pleasure is all mine.

I'll post these illustrations soon, until then, here is one drawing that I did in response to a request to "make a better picture of a park ranger."

The result is, I hope, not too self-indulgent, but I think you'll recognize him.

Best wishes,

Ranger Mannie

Who'da thunk it?

A year ago today, I visited Antietam National Battlefield, for the first time as a resident of the area.

My wife and I arrived from snowy Western Michigan to our apartment in Hagerstown on January 2 and spent the next few days waiting for our possessions to arrive . A day and a half went by and I just had to get to Antietam; the bright light that brought this moth to Washington County in the first place. The place that we had pulled up roots to be near was just 14 miles down the road, and there was no time like the present (so to speak) to go make sure that it was actually there.

I arrived at the park around four in the afternoon with only about an hour of daylight left. I got out at the tower on Sunken Road and cut through the field toward an isolated field piece. From that position I surveyed the park and my future prospects.

We literally "picked up and left" Michigan. Reactions from many of our friends ran from concerned to horrified. They'd ask: "Do you guys have jobs lined up out there?" To which my wife would cheerfully reply: "Nope, but Mannie knows where he'll be volunteering!"

And so it was.

I volunteered at Antietam, and worked as a substitute teacher. Virginia (my wife) got a job as a bookseller and continues to pursue her career as a fine artist.

And today, exactly one year later, with our own little house on South Mountain and a happy life, I'm the Ranger who lowers the flag at the end of each day at Antietam National Battlefield. Who'da thunk it?

Take a chance on your dreams.

Sleep tight,

Ranger Mannie

Poffenberger wagon shed: needs work

Over the course of the spring, summer, and through the very late fall, I watched as the folks from the Cultural Resources Division took the Poffenberger wagon shed on as a stabilization project...they really had their work cut out for them.

When I first encountered the shed it had a huge tree growing out from one wall and half- dozen woodchuck holes had the foundation askew.

The Joseph Poffenberger farmstead is an outstanding cluster of original buildings along the jumping off point for Hooker's 6:00 a.m. advance toward the Confederate positions near Dunker Church. Saving these significant buildings was a priority for the park this season.


First things first. Establishing square...

and shoring up the structure so it doesn't expire on the operating table (talk about "intensive care").

Timbers were selected...

and new sills and beams were hand-hewn.



Great care was taken to utilize as much of the original materials as possible.


Historic mortar mixes were used in the restoration of the stone foundation.

New stones where cut by hand but the historic facing stones had been numbered to allow them to be...

carefully placed back into their original positions.

Slowly the shed began to get square again,

as new materials were married to the old,

using techniques that the centuries could not improve.



(hold your breath)

A foundation corner before...


and during the restoration process.


K.C, Keven, and Travis are only three of the many talented and dedicated professionals who preserve Antietam National Battlefield as a living legacy for generations of future Americans.

Their attention to detail and commitment to utilizing original materials and techniques is evident throughout the project. It's really been a treat to watch them work over this very productive season.

Deteriorating boards are replaced with siding cut in the manner of...

the 1860s. Slowly the look of the shed regains its appearance as the men of the First Corps saw it on the early morning of September 17, 1862.


Those men are long gone, but thanks to the efforts of skilled rangers and artisans, the shed that many of them strode past as attackers, or returned to as battered wounded, remains to march into the future.

History is with us everywhere, at Antietam National Battlefield.

Ranger Mannie

Overheard conversation

One of our wonderful volunteers shared this with me last week, the comment of an in-law at Manassas.

"Is that the brick wall where Stonewall Jackson got his nickname?"

Happy new year all.

Ranger Mannie

Jerry Ford: Seasonal Park Ranger

Being from Grand Rapids Michigan, I thought I'd post something about Grand Rapids' formost son, late President Gerald R. Ford, who, as a very young man, was a Ranger with the USNPS. But John Hoptak has already done a great job

Check out John's post at: http://48thpennsylvania.blogspot.com/