I just got back from a 2-day trip to Central and Western Maryland during which I saw the Hagerstown Suns. We drove up to Frederick, did a half day around there Saturday morning, and then went to Hagerstown for Saturday night and Sunday morning/afternoon. It rained on Saturday, so we skipped most of the outdoor activities near Frederick.
Highlights:
Frederick, MD
- National Museum of Civil War Medicine in downtown Frederick, MD. This was pretty good, I learned a lot.
- Carroll Stream Park in downtown Frederick. This is beautiful, even in the pouring rain it was nice to walk down it. Basically it's a riverwalk park they built around a little stream.
- Schifferstadt Architectural Museum in Frederick. This was improvised onto the schedule since it's indoors but we don't regret it. It's a cabin from the 1740's built by a German settler who helped found Frederick. The Germans built their cabins differently from the English and you can learn all about that here.
- Frederick County History Museum in downtown Frederick. They have a large collection of grandfather clocks, but the highlight here is Jacob Engelbrecht. He was a local resident who kept a very detailed diary from 1818 to 1878, which is on display (and for sale in the gift shop) at the museum. You could rename this the Jacob Engelbrecht museum and it would be accurate, the guy documented everything in the city's history during his life. Just thumbing through the diary reading random pages was fun. I got to read a scathing review of his 1822 trip to Washington and Alexandria, which he was not impressed with, and his play-by-play of the 1824 presidential election. He was a big John Quincy Adams fanboy and got to see his guy win it at the end, despite Frederick being an Andrew Jackson town in that election.
Mountains between Frederick and Hagerstown
- Washington Monument in Boonsboro, MD. This is a small, crude stone tower built in 1827 by the people of Boonsboro, located on a mountain top in the Maryland Appalachians. The Appalachian Trail runs right by it. On a clear day you get a good view of the surrounding countryside, including the Antietam Battlefield. It reminds me a bit of the Bunker Hill monument in Charlestown, Massachusetts.
Hagerstown, MD
- Antietam Recreation is a summer camp just south of Hagerstown, and for some reason they put on multiple near professional level musical dinner shows each year, usually in the fall and spring. I attended a show called "Century of Song" which featured singing and dancing routines set to top hits of the 20th century, everything from the Lindyhop, Elvis, Motown, Michael Jackson, and even *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys. There was this super talented 11 year old kid who portrayed both young Michael Jackson and grownup Bruno Mars. The folks in it were a mix of professional singers, students at local colleges and high schools, and camp staff who just happen to be talented.
- Municipal Stadium, where I saw the Suns beat the Delmarva Shorebirds, is not as barren or basic as I was warned about. If anything it compares favorably to the P-Nats stadium which I was not impressed with. The manual scoreboard is operated from the front which was cool. Juan Soto is an exciting prospect.
Fort Frederick State Park
- A fort from the French and Indian War (built 1756) that never saw battle. The walls are still there, fully rebuilt, and two barracks inside the walls have been rebuilt. The staff that work here, from the costumed reenactors to the gift shop staff, are incredibly enthusiastic about the Fort and its history. Highly recommend
Williamsport, MD
- Was in a rush so I only spent about an hour here. Basically there is a long stretch of preserved canal, with a "water bridge" at one end (that used to carry the canal over a local river) and a working canal lock at the other end. You walk along the canal, and its mostly joggers, fishermen, and people with their dogs. The canal boat rides were not being offered yet. There is a restored warehouse that is a visitors center. Inside the visitors center, watch the two movies. One is a 1970's movie with hilariously outdated references to the Concorde jet. The other is a 1917 silent movie that shows the canal actually in operation.
