The Monterey Pass Battlefield Association

To educate, to interpret and to preserve


"Our goal is to identify & raise awareness to educate the public about the historical Civil War significance of the Monterey Area."

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A 1870's view of the Monterey Pass Battlefield looking toward Fairfield Gap.

Money needed to preserve and promote Battle of Monterey Pass

Welcome to the website of the Monterey Pass Battlefield Association. Our goal is to raise awareness of this strategic battle and to educate the public about the historical Civil War significance of the Monterey Area and by doing so interpreting and preserving the Monterey Pass Battlefield.

Monterey Pass is the second largest battle that occurred in Pennsylvania and was the only battle ever to be fought on both sides of the Mason and Dixon Line, taking place in four counties, Frederick and Washington Counties, Maryland and Adams and Franklin Counties, Pennsylvania. Monterey Pass is situated on the South Mountain range and being a direct route to the Potomac River, it was used by the bulk of the Confederate Army during it’s withdraw from Gettysburg.

Our website features a new interpretive program designed to enhance the sesquicentennial anniversary of the Civil War and the battle of Monterey Pass as well as our new Interpretative Programs for kids and five different Guided Tours that we will be offering starting in 2010. Our Civil War Heritage of the Mountaintop program focuses on an area known as the mountaintop, situated primarily on South Mountain and encompasses the towns of modern day Blue Ridge Summit and Cascade. This area was a major crossroads leading into the towns of Fairfield, Waynesboro, Emmitsburg and Smithsburg during the Civil War. This program will explore six main areas of Civil War history.

The first area of interest within the Civil War Heritage of the Mountaintop is the The Battlefield, which will explain the logistics of the battle of Monterey Pass. The second area of interest is entitled The Civilian Experience. Here you will learn about how the civilians of the mountaintop impacted the battle of Monterey Pass. The third area of interest is called Life on the Home Front, which explores daily life in the area as taken from official newspaper accounts and diaries on such topics as civilian life, soldier occupation and political views. The next area of interest is The Soldier's Experience, where we will compare the average Civil War soldier from the Waynesboro/Monterey area to those invading this area during the Civil War. The Civil War Heritage of Emmitsburg will explain the importance of the town of Emmitsburg throughout the entire Civil War, not just leading up to and after the battle of Gettysburg. The final area of interest, The Living Historian will give our visitors an understanding of how we, as an organization, accurately portray the life of those who lived and visited the mountaintop and its surrounding areas during the Civil War.