Log House

Antietam National Battlefield Md. 65, Sharpsburg Visitors center is open daily. From Memorial Day through Labor Day, hours are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.; from Labor Day through Memorial Day, hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The battlefield is closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. The park is open daily until dark. Admission is $4 per person and $6 per family. Call 301-432-5124 or go to www.nps.gov/anti . Boonsborough Museum of History 113 N. Main St., Boonsboro Open Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m. from May through September, or by appointment.

BOONSBORO - In Thornton "Pat" White's barn along Zittlestown Road, the sweet sounds of the songbirds almost seem to be originating from the lifelike forms of birds and waterfowl gracing his shelves. The reality of White's carved masterpieces almost makes one believe - just for an instant - that somehow the two are related. But no, the wooden statues are indeed silent though compelling in their detail and beauty. A native of Columbus, Ohio, White had a 25-year career in the U.S. Navy and then another 16 years working for a government satellite communications agency.

BOONSBORO - In Thornton "Pat" White's barn along Zittlestown Road, the sweet sounds of the songbirds almost seem to be originating from the lifelike forms of birds and waterfowl gracing his shelves. The reality of White's carved masterpieces almost makes one believe - just for an instant - that somehow the two are related. But no, the wooden statues are indeed silent though compelling in their detail and beauty. A native of Columbus, Ohio, White had a 25-year career in the U.S. Navy and then another 16 years working for a government satellite communications agency.

The small log house settles into a hollow facing Md. 85 just east of Buckystown, Md., in Frederick County and is a little way from its original Washington County home. The house originally stood along what is now Alternate U.S. 40, the Old National Pike. Built at the end of the 18th century or the beginning of the 19th, the house sat on the north side of the road, down the western slope of South Mountain, close to Md. 67, southeast of Boonsboro. Now near Buckystown, the house is newly refurbished, set on stone foundations with a large stone chimney on its west side.

HAGERSTOWN - From the tools to build it to the banks to finance it, everything needed to put a roof over your head was under one roof Saturday at Home Show 2007 at Hagerstown Community College's Athletic, Recreation and Community Center. Some of the hundreds of people walking about the 200 exhibitor booths were looking to start from scratch on a new house. "We're looking to downsize. I'm not sure where we're going yet, but we're looking for ideas," said Donna Crider of Chambersburg, Pa. She and her husband, Clark, plan to build a house when they retire.

The address is Leitersburg Smithsburg Road, but the property is set so far back, is so sheltered, that it seems to be another place and another time. A narrow gravel lane goes west for half a mile, past two other homes, then curls into woodlands. Soon it opens into an ample hollow with a small red barn, a fenced garden and a log house overlooking Little Grove Creek at the foot of the hill. This stream winds from east of Smithsburg to Bowman's Mill, where it joins Little Antietam Creek.

The decrepit Ridenour Farm stood empty in 1996, nestled in a patch of woods along a small stream more than a third of a mile from Hopewell Road. The small three-bay, brick-cased log house had deteriorated but still had a good metal roof and all its window sashes, nine-over-six sashes on the first floor of the original log section and six-over-six in the rest of the structure. The stone barn was roofless, and other outbuildings had collapsed. That year the Hagerstown-Washington County Industrial Foundation (CHIEF)

Directions to Tinyworld: On U.S. 11 go north of the Pa. 997 intersection, take a right on Pine Stump Road and left on Rice Road. SHIPPENSBURG, PA. chambersburg@herald-mail.com Wendell Myers sent fallen leaves dancing in front of a leaf blower Saturday as Christmas music from a car stereo competed with the machine's staccato din, while his wife, Donna, was stringing some of the 25,000 or more lights that will illuminate Tinyworld. They and daughters Shannon and Megan were working against the calendar to get the miniature village ready for visitors by Thanksgiving night.

waynesboro@herald-mail.com MERCERSBURG, PA. - A 214-year-old, two-story log house, discovered when a fire in 2003 destroyed the building surrounding it, is being stabilized by a log-building expert while the Mercersburg Borough Council decides what to do with it. "Everybody has different ideas," Borough Manager Arthur "Artie" Speicher said of the range of proposals among borough council members. The building has significant history in that its builder, Archibald Irwin, had ties to two American presidents.

Washington County, already wonderful, keeps getting better! In its Best Place To Live In Rural America category, Progressive Farmer Magazine has listed the county as Maryland's best. The county ranked 12th best among all counties the magazine considers rural in the 13-state Southeastern U.S. region. The county also was ranked 71st overall out of 600 rural counties across the nation, which means that our county is in the top 12 percent. One of the reasons our county scored so well was because the magazine's editors said they looked for counties that have access to culture and shopping but are still rural with "plenty of elbow room.