After several attempts in past years (thanks to illnesses and weather), I was finally able to attend Antietam National Battlefield's Memorial Illumination on December 3. Along with July's 'Salute to Independence' event, and of course Battle Anniversary weekend, the Illumination is a must attend for any Civil War, National Park, or history buff alike.
For the past 23 years, over one thousand volunteers gather in early December, to carefully place 23, 110 luminaries throughout the northern portion of the battlefield. Each flame represents a casualty from the bloody, one day battle. As darkness ascends, and droves of park visitors slowly drive through the battlefield, the scale of 23,110 human casualties becomes clearer. Each curve in the tour road, and the cresting of a hill offers another stunning view.
Staying late into the night with my camera, I walked along the rows of luminaries as the tour roads became more and more still, before finally heading home. Another amazing weekend at our National Parks.
Please enjoy a sampling of some of my photographs from this weekend (below), as well as photographs taken by the National Park Service's Capital Region Social Media Team:
here and
here
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| photo by Dave Maher |
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| photo by Dave Maher |
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| photo by Dave Maher |
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| photo by Dave Maher |
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| photo by Dave Maher |
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| photo by Dave Maher |
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| photo by Dave Maher |
2 comments:
Dave--Astounding photos! You caught the setting perfectly.
Thanks Jim. It certainly is a "must see" event. I'm glad I was finally able to make it this year.
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