The Original Washington Monument

Today was the day to explore Hagerstown, mostly to get the lay-of-the-land.  To do this we stayed pretty much on Rte 40 for a through-and-through trip.  The Rte 40 corridor through Hagerstown is pretty much commercial property with everything from the big box stores to smaller strip malls with mom & pop operations in them.  Almost anything you need is on Rte 40.  There is a short stretch of 40 that is mixed or residential.

Like Boonsboro there are banners of service personnel on almost every utility pole.  Different than Boonsboro, the banners have more current pictures of the service men – in Boonsboro all the pictures display the service member in military garb.  The banners are very similar in layout in both towns so I’ll have to do some investigating to find out why.

Our next stop was Washington Monument State Park. The Appalachian Trail runs through this park and the George Washington Trail is a short piece of the A.T..  This park is on South Mountains Monument Knob and contains a 40 foot tower, erected by volunteer villagers from Boonsboro to celebrate their Independence Day in 1827.  

 Though reduced to rubble by weather and vandalism the tower was used by the union army as a signal station during the Civil War and played a significant role in the Battle of South Mountain as well as during nearby Antietam.  The monument was rebuilt many times but actually restored to its original condition by the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1934-1936  You can actually enter the tower and get a three state (WV, PA, MD) view from the top. 

 The trail from the parking lot to the monument is relatively short and well maintained but is an uphill walk (as is most things in this part of the country).  The path has signs along the way depicting major events in the life of George Washington so you can stop, read and catch your breath – you’ll need it because the view from the monument is breath-taking.