burgan-mv.jpgThe stone observatory on the Bloody lane is now finished and ready for visitors. The view from this point alone is worth a visit to the famous Bloody lane as you can take in the entire right to the left nearly four miles. There will be, when all planted, nearly four hundred markers, giving one a good idea of the entire battle field with the advantage of the good roads. Every body ought to visit it and make a study of this great battle.
Diamond in the Dirt
Submitted by StephenRecker on Tue, 01/03/2012 - 7:31pm
Last week a buddy of mine called to say that he had bought a big box of postcards at auction and wanted to know if I was interested in seeing the lot before he put them for sale online. He assured me there was nothing exciting, but since that is usually what someone says before they pull out a great item we set a time to meet.
As we went through the stacks there were, true to his word, a lot of common postcards. But then it happened. Toward the bottom of the stack I saw a 'diamond in the dirt.' It was an old Martin Burgan postcard of the Mountain View Cemetery in Sharpsburg. I have a pretty good collection of Burgans and the few I have seen that I don't own I have at least scanned - except for this one. I have seen it in a book, in black and white, but never in the flesh, in color. It was a thrilling moment.
I asked my buddy if he was thinking of selling any of these cards. He informed me that he had brought the stack as a gift. Wow.
About
Hello. I'm Stephen Recker and welcome to my blog. In it I will be discussing the different projects I am working on related to the American Civil War with a focus on photography related to the battle of Antietam. I am particularly interested in how the battlefield has been interpreted throughout the years. I will be discussing how it was done then and how new technologies can be brought to bear to bring life to those old materials as well as new ones. See the 99 Places Every Antietam Battlefield Guide Should Know.
Sharpsburg Items
Antietam Valley Record
Thursday, September 5, 1895