The Washington County Museum of Fine Arts in Hagers-town's City Park with its holdings of European and American art, as well as drawings, prints and sculptures, will offer special exhibits of baseball, watercolors and public school art. Door prizes will be awarded both days, and live music will be performed on Sunday.
The rumble of musket and cannon firing demonstrations will echo at the 250-year-old Fort Frederick in Big Pool.
Trains, trolleys and the largest collection of working model trains in the area highlight railroad history at the Hagerstown Roundhouse Museum, which also will feature an exhibit of Historical Women in Railroading and Trains for Kids.
Antique farming equipment and household implements from rural life can be seen at the Washington County Rural Heritage Museum as well as a Catoctin Furnace cast iron stove, a Conestoga wagon, a corn sheller and corncob checkers.
The newest entry to the museums of Washington County is the Pry House Field Hospital Museum at Antietam National Battlefield. On this site the system of triage was developed and plans were drawn up for a dedicated military ambulance corps. Battlefield medical equipment for surgery will be displayed.
During the Museum Ramble weekend, entry to most museums will be free. Several private collections that normally are accessible only by appointment will be open.
The tour is self-guided. Information and a brochure with map and driving directions to the sites is available at the Visitors Welcome Center in downtown Hagerstown and at Interstate 70 information centers. The Visitors Welcome Center also will provide refreshments and a free Washington County Museums pin to indicate participation in the Ramble.
Cheryl M. Keyser is a freelance writer for The Herald-Mail.
If you go ...
Second annual Washington County Museum Ramble
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, May 7, and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, May 8
Admission to most tour museums is free of charge.
For information, contact the co-sponsors: Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau at 16 Public Square, 301-791-3246, www.marylandmemories.com on the Web; Washington County Association of Museums and Historical Sites, 301-733-3638.
