Day 41, Sunday, Oct 12, Chambersburg, PA to Uniontown, PA

We found it was a good choice, taking "Scenic" or alternate US 40 rather than the fast and smooth freeway (I-68) through these Allegheny mountains. On the freeway you can't stop and enjoy places like this: An historic stone bridge, built in 1812, spanning a stream along the old "National Highway."

Following US 40 brought us to Uniontown, PA where we stopped and found lodging. It had been a beautiful day!

Here is an up close view of one of these brilliant hardwood trees along US 40 in extreme northwestern Maryland, just below the Pennsylvania border and just north of West Virginia.

This rivals anything we have seen in beautiful New England.

As we continued westward along scenic US 40, we had to stop several times to take photos of the Autumn colors.

This is looking off to the northwest, near Grantsville, MD. The photo can not do justice to the brilliance of these colors.

This morning we checked out of our lodgings in Chambersburg, dressed in our Sunday best, hoping to make it to Cumberland, Maryland in time to attend the 12:30 pm Sacrament Meeting of the Cumberland Ward. It turned out to take quite a bit longer than I thought, and we did not arrive in Cumberland in time.

We traveled on historic US 40 today. It is called the National Highway. We hope to use it to cross Ohio and Indiana, rather than have to be on the Interstate.

This is truly beautiful country with rolling hills, mountains and many open spaces with well cultivated farms. These are the Allegheny mountains and the Fall colors are really starting to 'pop.'

This was taken west of Cumberland, MD, very close to West Virginia's northern border.

Day 40, Sat, Oct 11, Antietam National Battlefield, Maryland

It was here, south of the Antietam battlefield, that Robert E. Lee retreated with his shattered army and made a successful crossing to the safety of Virginia (now West Virginia).

I drove the two short miles from the battlefield to this location on the Potomac near where Lee would have crossed his army. Of course, in those days this railroad tressle did not exist nor was there any other bridge across the Potomac. They had to use ferry boats or build a temporary pontoon bridge to get their soldiers, their wounded and their horses and supply wagons to safety.

On this day, the area was alive with visitors old and young, many on bicycles or on foot, enjoying this Columbus Day holiday weekend. Few, if any would be thinking of the great suffering which took place near here in September 1862.

Here is the "Sunken Road" which first served as a brastwork for the Confederate center but soon became an open grave for hundreds of the dead and wounded. For over 3 hours the brave soldiers of the Confederacy of never more than 6,200 men held off a Union force of nearly 10,000. When the thin grey line finally collapsed the Union attackers had suffered too many casualties to pursue. Seeing the dead in the road an observer wrote, "They were lying in rows like the ties of a railroad ... words are inadequate to portray the scene."

These monuments line the edge of the "Cornfield." It was here for 3 hours that "some of U.S. history's most horrific fighting took place. Many regiments on both sides were cut to pieces.