Antietam National Battlefield

Christian Grosh of Troop 8 in Hagerstown completed his Eagle Scout project over Labor Day weekend. The Eagle project was chosen when Christian noticed that the small graveyard near the tee box of the sixth hole at Black Rock Golf Course needed to be repaired and renovated. The project consisted of staining and repairing the split-rail fence, and mulching and erecting a sign donated by Black Rock Golf Course that has the names and dates of those buried at the site. Jane Custer, division chief at Antietam National Battlefield, provided training on how to properly clean and repair the headstones.

Tyler Trot 5K walk and run will be Saturday, Aug. 4, at Antietam National Battlefield, 5831 Dunker Church Road, Sharpsburg. Registration begins at 8 am. 5K walk/run at 9 a.m. and the kids fun run at 10 a.m. Awards given in age categories. Cost is $30. Kids Fun Run costs $10 and is open to ages 10 and younger. Proceeds benefit Charge Syndrome Foundation. For more information, go to www.tylertrot.org .

SHARPSBURG -- The first phase of an exterior restoration project at the D.R. Miller house, a farmhouse on Antietam National Battlefield, has started. The D.R. Miller house was built between 1790 and 1800, according to a press release from the National Park Service. The house survived the Civil War's Battle of Antietam in 1862, and has remained standing for more than two centuries. "We need to return it to what it looked like during the battle in 1862," said Jane Custer, chief of cultural resources at Antietam National Battlefield.

Open auditions for a documentary on the Battle of Antietam will be held at Hagerstown Junior College's Kepler Theater on Friday and Saturday. Anyone interested in a speaking part may attend the auditions. Review of on-screen extras also will be done at this time, and re-enactors should bring their full impressions. Auditions will be held Friday from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Scripts will be provided. Registration and an audition is expected to take about 30 minutes, officials said.

In what a local tourism official said is an example of the importance of tourism to the local economy, the number of paid visitors at Antietam National Battlefield increased by 14,991 in 2010, and visitors spent more than $19 million, according to the National Park Service. On the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park, which stretches from Georgetown in Washington, D.C., to Cumberland, Md., 359,557 more people visited the towpath in 2010 than in 2009, according to an annual report compiled to measure the economic impact of national parks across the country.

The Battle of Sharpsburg Camp 1582, Sons of Confederate Veterans, swore in two new members at its monthly meeting at the Mumma Farmhouse at Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg on Aug. 1. They are, from left, William Howell, whose ancestor was Pvt. Joseph Howell, Co. A, 24th Virginia Infantry, and Jan Hiett, whose ancestor was Pvt. William Hendricks, who served in Co. H, 2nd Virginia Infantry. Membership in the group is open to any male 12 years of age or older who had an ancestor who served honorably in the Confederate military.

Nine students from E. Russell Hicks Middle School spent early January in the Miller House in downtown Hagerstown by portraying discussions held by President Abraham Lincoln with his cabinet, before and after the Battle of Antietam about the Emancipation Proclamation.  The script was written by the students as a part of the Student Service Learning Program as part of a national Civil War Sesquicentennial umbrella effort called The Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership with public schools, known as “Of the Student, By the Student, For the Student.” Over several months, E. Russell Hicks Middle School students have worked with National Park Rangers at Antietam National Battlefield, historians, JTHG Partnership educators and researched historical source documents to learn about life on and off the battlefield during the 1860s and during the bloodiest battle in American history.

SHARPSBURG - About 40 people gathered in a church Sunday at the site of what was described as "hell on Earth" 145 years ago. They were listening to the Wildcat Regiment Band perform at Dunker Church at Antietam National Battlefield. The concert was part of the celebration of the 145th anniversary of the Battle of Antietam. Conductor B.J. Pino said the band was playing authentic music from the mid-19th century with instruments from the Civil War era. While their dress, instruments and music were historically accurate, some modern obstacles were obvious during the band's performance.

A collection of black-and-white images of Antietam National Battlefield by local photographer Halli Casser-Jayne will be exhibited on the Freedom Wall of the Maryland State House beginning Nov. 1. The building is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The photographs, from Casser-Jayne's book "Still Life: Images of Antietam," depict the battle that took place Sept. 17, 1862. Casser-Jayne describes her images as "a highly emotional view of what happened that day in 1862. Historically, we look back at war in a thoughtful way at that which has been.

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley will narrate a performance at the Maryland Symphony Orchestra's annual “Salute to Independence” concert next month. O'Malley will narrate Aaron Copland's “Lincoln Portrait,” an orchestral work that “incorporates the reading of excerpts from Lincoln's great documents,” according to the MSO. The concert will be July 7 at 7:30 p.m. at Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg. In a statement issued by the MSO, O'Malley said, “I'm honored to serve as guest narrator and have the opportunity to bring the inspirational words of President Lincoln to life.