Marines remove Civil War cannon shells from a monument's base at Antietam, closing the visitor center for two days
A strange bit of battlefield history: a local guide set live-looking ammunition in concrete in the 1920s, and now it has to come out.
Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg, Maryland, closed its visitor center, Dunker Church and nearby roads and trails from Oct. 27, possibly into Oct. 28, while Marine Corps explosive ordnance specialists from Quantico removed 10 pieces of cannon ammunition embedded in the concrete base of the O.T. Reilly Monument, the National Park Service said.
Sharpsburg resident and local guide O.T. Reilly set the ammunition from his personal collection into the monument's base in the 1920s, when the land was privately owned; the Park Service acquired it in 2022. Because the shells might still contain explosives, the work was closed to the public. The monument is being lifted for preservation, given a new base and returned to its place.
Instead of the closed visitor center, the park set up a temporary information station where Dunker Church Road, Starke Avenue and Cornfield Avenue meet; other battlefield areas stayed open.
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Battle of Antietam
After exploring Antietam Visitors Should Plan for Partial Closures Oct. 27-28 - Antietam National Battlefield (U.S. National Park Service), for the battle the shells come from, read Battle of Antietam.
Wikipedia's account of the Sept. 17, 1862, Civil War battle near Antietam Creek and Sharpsburg between Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac.
Wikipedia · Swim · 30 min
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