South Mountain—Sharpsburg Tour

This hilly tour is a 33-mile ride through Maryland beginning and ending in historic Boonsboro at Shafer Memorial Park. This tour is from a series of tours in Washington County, encompassing hundreds of miles of paved roads. This map is one of eight loops provided to help you plan an infinite variety of bicycle trips along the best of these roads.

The journey begins in the Town of Boonsboro, MD, then heads south for a climb up South Mountain, a spur of the Blue Ridge chain, to the War Correspondents’ Arch at Gathland State Park. This park was once the mountain home of George Alfred Townsend, a Civil War journalist.  Head back up the valley to the Town of Keedysville, where water is available in the park.

Then travel to Sharpsburg where you can stop at famous Nutter’s Ice Cream to savor good old fashioned ice cream. If you want to check your email before you leave, there is free WiFi available at Captain Benders, a bar on Main Street. Next travel to Antietam National Battlefield www.nps.gov/anti/index.htm , the site of the bloodiest day of the Civil War.

After leaving the battlefield, you will pass the University of Maryland Experimental Farm and the Washington County Agricultural Education Center and Rural Heritage Museum and end in Shafer Memorial Park.

If you want more than one day at Antietam, consider staying at one of the following bed and breakfasts: The Mary Hill House, Jacob Rohrbach Inn, The Antietam Guest House, or The Inn at Antietam.

For turn-by-turn directions and other itineraries throughout the region, please visit marylandmemories.org or go directly to the county’s bike map and brochure. Highlighted information on this map includes eight suggested loop tours, which are shown in color.