Civil War Heritage of Emmitsburg

To educate, to interpret and to preserve

“Well at 4 o'clock that morning, we began our march to this place and arrived here last night about 6 o'clock and stayed in that place until this morning when we moved to this place, a Shady Grove, near a Nunnery or rather on the farm and near the Buildings belonging to the Sisters of Charity.” Lt. William Ballentine, 82nd Ohio Inf., June 1863.

 
Post Civil War photograph of Saint Joseph's

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Maryland Civil War Trails Wayside Exhibit

Maryland Roadside Markers

Army of the Potomac Itinerary Markers

Interpretation

Without interpretation you would not be able to understand the events of a certain time period. That is why interpretation is so important. Emmitsburg has several Maryland Civil War Trails Wayside Exhibits at Saint Joseph's and the Daughter's of Charity located on South Seton Avenue as well as the Mason and Dixon Discovery Center located on Route 15 Southbound. Two cast iron itinerary markers are located at the entrance to the Emmitsburg Post Office on South Seton Avenue.

As part of the anniversary of the Pennsylvania Campaign, every year we conduct a one to two hour long walking tour discussing different aspects of Emmitsburg's Civil War history. It is usually held during the last Friday of June and is free to the public. The tour begins around 6 p.m. For more information about this years tour please continue to check the website as more information will be posted as it becomes available.

For those who are unable to attend our annual tour and would be interested in a guided tour of Emmitsburg, throughout the tourism season, please feel free to contacts us! Our general fee is $20.00 per-person with kids 10 years of age and under free of charge. All fees go back into our efforts of historical preservation of the town of Emmitsburg. All tours begin at the Emmitsburg Community Center parking lot located on South Seton Avenue. These tours are conducted on Saturday or Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., March through October by appointment only.

Our seasonal Civil War walking tours will show you the Civil War sites of Emmitsburg. We'll discuss Indian Lookout, Mount Saint Mary's College and Toll Hill. We'll tour the grounds of Saint Joseph's and share stories about what Union troops experienced as they marched to Gettysburg. From St. Joseph's we'll walk into the town square and we'll end our tour at the modern day Emmit House. We'll share pictures from the time period closely representing what the Emmitsburg area looked like during the time of the Civil War. The tour is approximately one hour to one and a half hour long.

In addition to giving tours and lectures, we also focus our attention on the younger generation, educating them on the importance of the average Civil War soldier and what they experienced as well as what day to day life was like for those on the home front. We would enjoy the opportunity to do these programs for your youth group. Our programs for children are based upon the National Park Service and CWPT's teaching standards for students. To view our current programs, please click the links below. If you are interested in having us come out, we'll be more than happy to do so with a months' notice being given for scheduling a program.

For interpreter programs, donations are not required but they are appreciated. All of the donations we receive will go towards future interpreter programs. Any additional money we acquire will be donated to historical preservation as well as battlefield acquisition or battlefield waysides.

Are you hosting an event or looking for a speaker to discuss little known topics of the Civil War or the how the Civil War impacted Northern Frederick County? If so, please contact the M.P.B.A.