Frederick County (MD)’s Journey Through Hallowed Ground

The Battle of South Mountain battlefield can be found along the Journey Through Hallowed Ground.

Beginning in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, you can travel south on Route 15 and Route 231 for 180 miles until you reach Charlottesville, Virginia. “This part of the country has soaked up more of the blood, sweat, and tears of American history than any other part of the country. It has bred more founding fathers, inspired more soaring hopes and ideals and witnessed more triumphs, failures, victories, and lost causes than any other place in the country,” Yale University Professor C. Vann Woodward said of the route.

And around 37 miles of the route runs through the middle of Frederick County.

This is The Journey Through Hallowed Ground, a National Scenic Byway and a driving trip through America’s history and some of its scenic vistas. The Journey Through Hallowed Ground organization works with state and municipal governments to create joint tourism opportunities along the route.

Along the entire route, visitors will find nine U.S. President homes, the largest collection of Civil War sites in the country, 13 national parks and 73 National Historic Districts.

“This is the ground of our Founding Fathers. These are landscapes that speak volumes–small towns, churches, fields, mountains, creeks and rivers with names such as Bull Run and Rappahannock. They are the real thing, and what shame we will bring on ourselves if we destroy them,” said Pulitzer-Prize winning history writer David McCullough.

In Frederick County, The Journey Through Hallowed Ground includes Camp David in Thurmont, the Hessian Barracks in Frederick, Monocacy Civil War Battlefield in Frederick and more. In all, 39 locations are listed on The Journey Through Hallowed Ground that cover historical periods from pre-Revolutionary War to the present. Two of the major sites in Frederick County, the National Shrine of Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg and the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick each get about 45,000 visitors each year.

“If we can get people to think and open themselves up to a different historical experience, there are so many entry points in the study of history here in Frederick County,” said Heidi Campbell-Shoaf, executive director of the Historical Society of Frederick County.

She said that historical tourism in Frederick County has been rising incrementally over the past decade, though she can’t attribute all of the rise to increased exposure of the county’s historical sites through The Journey Through Hallowed Ground.

“Where we have seen an affect from the Journey is with their extreme history camps,” Campbell-Shoaf said.

She said that the camp held in Frederick County last summer was successful. The two-week camp took middle-school students around to the county historical sites and met with trained guides and historians to examine important decisions made by America’s leaders. The students hiked, biked and paddled through the historical sites. Then they took used digital cameras to put together their own movie about The Journey Through Hallowed Ground.

John Fieseler, executive director of the Tourism Council of Frederick County, said the Journey’s Certified Tourism Ambassador Program has been very helpful for the $400-million tourism industry in Frederick County.

“We’ve had a number of staff from hotels and attractions go through the program and we’re getting great feedback from it,” Fieseler said.

He said the program instructs attendees on the benefits and interesting aspects of local historical sites so they can speak in an informed manner to tourists.

“We’re helping people in the hospitality industry enhance a visitor’s experience in Frederick County,” Fieseler said.

Frederick County Sites Along the Journey Through Hallowed Ground