You’ve reached “home base” for fun ways to learn Civil War history at Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg, Maryland. Start here to plan your Antietam battlefield bike tour, and maybe connect from the C&O Canal Towpath. You can learn about the battlefield by perusing this website or our online shop.
We believe in self-directed, experiential learning on a bicycle. And we make that happen by exploring “outdoor classrooms” at our own pace, in our own way, and prompted by our own educational interests.
Antietam Battlefield Fun
Antietam National Battlefield, 302 East Main Street, Sharpsburg, Maryland 21782
Learn about the Battle of Antietam
Experiential learners enjoy making connections between what they have studied at home or school and what they experience on the battlefield. Peruse Civil War Cycling’s website and…
- Review landscape photos to understand the geography of your ride (and the historical significance of where you are).
- Study a gallery of monument photos and micro-histories before your ride so that it is easier to understand the battle story once you are on site.
- Try our virtual “scavenger hunts” to match monument photos to Google map pins. The idea is to memorize or remember what monuments you will look for on your bicycle tour.
- Play with Civil War Cycling’s interactive quizzes to test your knowledge or boost your memory about the people, places, and things pertaining to the Battle of Antietam.
- Consider your options for different bicycle routes for different learning objectives, and consider our battlefield bicycling tips.
- Expand and deepen your knowledge of the Battle of Antietam, Civil War Maryland, and touring Antietam by car, bike, or on foot by consulting Civil War Cycling’s annotated bibliography of recommended reading.
Experience Antietam on Two Wheels
Begin your Antietam battlefield bike tour by planning your own self-directed cycling adventure using Civil War Cycling’s guidebook and maps. Or click to buy maps, or buy a guidebook using this Amazon affiliate link. Join the ranks of people who like to learn like a kid on a bike.
The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal runs along the Potomac River. On the west side of the battlefield park, the canal towpath provides several access points to public roads that lead to the battlefield. This means that the towpath cyclist has options for an excursion tour through Antietam National Battlefield. Civil War Cycling offers directions and maps to help get you from and to the battlefield. One map is for the northbound cyclist and the other is for the southbound cyclist.
Map of Sharpsburg, Maryland
In the first week of September, 1862, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, under the command of Gen. Robert E. Lee, crossed the Potomac River into western Maryland. This first invasion of northern soil resulted in the Battle of South Mountain (September 14), Gen. Lee’s capture of Harper’s Ferry (September 15), and the Battle of Antietam (September 17) in Sharpsburg, Maryland. ~ From Bicycling Antietam National Battlefield, p. 57.
