Antietam Creek

Ken Working Sr. shows the 20 1/2-inch-long rainbow trout he caught Jan. 10 at Devil's Backbone County Park in the Antietam Creek.

Alex Del Valle, left, 13, and Saquan Pachot, 13, of Hagerstown beat the heat Monday by making a splash in the Antietam Creek near Security Road in Hagerstown.

Two roads near Conococheague Creek and one near Antietam Creek remained closed Sunday afternoon due to flooding, according to Washington County Emergency Services. West of Hagerstown, a portion of Independence Road near Conococheague Creek was closed as was, farther north, a section of Wishard Road off Fairview Road. In the Sharpsburg area, a portion of Burnside Bridge Road near Antietam Creek was closed. — Julie E. Greene

When C.A. Millburn saw the mother duck and from 15 to 25 ducklings trying to cross Edgewood Drive in the area of Hagerstown Commons on Wednesday at 11 a.m., he swung into action. Millburn, a reserve officer in the Maryland Natural Resources Police Reserve Officer program, said he stopped traffic in both directions. Then, he said, he began helping the ducklings, which were having trouble getting over a curb, make it to safety. Other motorists got out of their cars to help, said Millburn, who lives off Dual Highway.

The Long Meadow Rotary Club will plant trees, bushes and flowers and install a walkway on a small city park at the corner of The Terrace and Northern Avenue in Hagerstown, under a proposal endorsed by Hagerstown City Council members on Tuesday. The small park is along Hamilton Run, a stream that feeds into Antietam Creek.

The Antietam Creek Watershed Alliance is the recipient of a $1,000 grant from the Margaret Rosch Jones award in the Keep Maryland Beautiful campaign for the annual Rubbish Roundup on Antietam Creek.   The award, administered by the Maryland Environmental Trust and Maryland Department of Highways, is for nonprofit groups or communities that show continuing plans for a project that has already demonstrated a basic understanding and resolution of an environmental issue.   The alliance is  dedicated to promoting, protecting and restoring the Antietam Creek.

Washers, dryers, toilets and shopping carts have been pulled out of Antietam Creek during past cleanups of the stretch that runs through Washington County, said Emilie R. Cooper of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Cooper said the state is trying to find help to stage another creek cleanup in September. The date, however, has not been decided. "Antietam Creek has a lot of potential ... But it is in need of a lot of help," Cooper said. "There's lots of dumping on rural roads.

The last Civil War soldier to witness the fighting at Burnside Bridge during the Battle of Antietam died nearly a century ago. But a 170-year-old eastern sycamore tree that abuts the north end of the stone bridge continues to thrive. Joe Calzarette, natural resources manager at Antietam National Battlefield, said the tree undoubtedly was hit by gunfire as thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers fought for control of the bridge on Sept. 17, 1862. “Boy, if it could talk,” Calzarette said of the tree, known as a witness tree because it was there at the time of the battle.

Lappans Road (Md. 68) is scheduled to reopen at 2 p.m. Monday at Devil's Backbone Park, according to a press release from Washington County. The road has been closed since July 5. The road was closed so the stream bank along Antietam Creek in that area could be stabilized. According to Robert Slocum, deputy director of public works for Washington County, parts of the guardrail along the road were falling into the creek. The stream bank stabilization was part of the overall rehabilitation of Devil's Backbone Dam across Antietam Creek.

The Greensburg Road Bridge near Smithsburg, which had been closed since June 14, reopened Tuesday at 2 p.m. The bridge over Antietam Creek is near the Greensburg Road and Fruit Tree Drive intersection. The $143,000 project included a deck replacement and construction of a support wall, Melissa Yates, project manager for Washington County's Engineering Department, said Tuesday. Building Systems Inc. of Hagerstown performed the repairs.