At a Glance

Hours:

Grounds are open during daylight hours, year-round.
The Visitor Center is open daily from 9 am to 5 pm.
The Park and Visitor Center are closed on Thanksgiving, December 25, & January 1.
Special programs, which attract crowds, are held on Memorial Day, Independence Day, the Anniversary of the Battle of Antietam (Sept. 17), and the first Saturday in December.

Cost: A pass is needed for use of the grounds. Passes are good for three consecutive days:

$10 per person (one individual in a vehicle or a hiker, biker, or pedestrian).
$15 per person on a motorcycle.
$20 per private vehicle (all occupants).
Annual passes for Antietam are available for $35. This pass covers the pass holder and occupants of a single private vehicle.
Other federal passes (America the Beautiful passes, Lifetime Senior Passes, etc.) may be used for entry.
Children under the age of 16 don’t need a pass.
Three-day digital park passes may be purchased in advance through Recreation.gov.

Tips: Watch out for poison ivy, stinging nettle plants, and especially groundhog holes. ◾ Stay on trails and do not enter crop fields, pastures, reforested areas, barns and other farm areas. ◾ Restrooms are at the Visitor Center.

Prohibited: Bicycles are not allowed on park trails but can use paved park roads. ◾ Open containers of alcohol are not allowed in parking lots, the youth campground, park buildings, and in all vehicles. ◾ Fires are prohibited except in the youth campground. ◾ Natural products, such as wood or wildflowers, may not be removed from the grounds. ◾ No driving without seatbelts (all vehicle occupants). ◾ No swimming, fishing, or putting in/taking out a boat within 500 feet of Burnside Bridge. ◾ No hunting. ◾ Firearms and knives are generally not allowed except for reenactments. ◾ Picnicking is prohibited inside the Antietam National Cemetery, Mumma Cemetery, Dunker Church, Observation Tower, on the Burnside Bridge, or on any monument. ◾ No kite flying, ball games, sunbathing, model airplane or rocket flying, frisbee playing. ◾ Relic hunting and use of metal detectors is prohibited. No artifacts may be removed from the grounds.

Best Seasons: Spring and fall, but good habitat for all seasons.

Breeding Bird Atlas Blocks: Shepherdstown NE, Keedysville NW, Keedysville CW

Local MOS Chapter: Washington County Bird Club

Antietam National Battlefield

5831 Dunker Church Road, Sharpsburg, MD 21782
(301) 432-5124

Antietam National Battlefield offers birders the opportunity to combine bird watching with touring a historic Civil War battlefield. The Battlefield is managed by the National Park Service. Included on the 3,700 acre site is a Visitor’s Center, a National Cemetery, and many historic structures and features that enable visitors to learn about the battle that took place here in 1862.

Antietam Creek, a tributary of the Potomac River, runs through the eastern part of the Battlefield. Most of the acreage consists of crop fields, fallow fields, mown grass fields, and hedgerows, and there are deciduous woodlots and riparian buffers, especially on the east side near Antietam Creek. Much of the riparian forest consists of maples, sycamore, and black walnut. Snavely Woods, located along the Creek south of Md Route 34, is a particularly rich, age-diverse, oak-hickory forest. The understory contains dogwood, spicebush, and witch hazel, and the ground cover includes a number of spring ephemeral wildflowers such as Dutchman’s Britches, spring beauty, Virginia bluebells, and bloodroot. The park is located over a bed of limestone, which holds a complex of underground caves (not open to the public) as well as water features such as seeps and springs.

Nature trails are situated in the well-traveled parts of the battlefield and also on the outskirts where there are fewer visitors. The trails are gently rolling, but the surface can be slightly uneven, so good walking shoes are recommended. There is also a mapped auto tour through much of the Battlefield; see trail map at the link in the At a Glance section of this webpage.

Probably the best areas to view birds are in the portion of the park south of MD Route 34/Boonsboro Pike, including the aforementioned Snavely’s Woods, which can be accessed via the Snavely Ford Trail through a wooded section in the southeast corner of the park. Another good spot is along the edge of Antietam Creek in the Sherrick Farm area. Another productive area is the Three Farms Trail in the northeast section of the park.

Historical Note: Of course, any visit to Antietam will be overshadowed by the mortal Civil War battle that took place here on September 17, 1862. An estimated 23,000 soldiers, from both sides, were killed, wounded, or missing after the 12-hour battle. This is considered to be the bloodiest battle in US history. The battle effectively halted the Confederate Army’s attempted advance into the northern states. Read about the history of the battle on the National Park Service website.

Birdlife:

A total of over 170 species have been reported on eBird from multiple hotspots within Antietam National Battlefield as a whole.

There is an overall eBird hotspot that covers the entire park as well as individual hotspots for the major trails:

Antietam National Battlefield overall – 163+ species
Antietam National Battlefield–Burnside Bridge – 128+ species
Antietam National Battlefield–Cornfield Trail – 98+ species
Antietam National Battlefield–Final Attack Trail – 114+ species
Antietam National Battlefield–Observation Tower – 35+ species
Antietam National Battlefield–Snavely Ford Trail – 134+ species
Antietam National Battlefield–Three Farms Trail – 140+ species
Antietam National Battlefield–Union Advance Trail – 74+ species
Antietam National Battlefield–West Woods Trail – 73+ species

During the warm months, Grasshopper Sparrow, Eastern Meadowlark, Indigo Bunting, and Red-headed Woodpecker can be found at the Battlefield, along with flycatchers, vireos, and warblers. Raptors are also found throughout the park. During spring, Red-tailed Hawks are commonly seen. Other common raptor sightings include Sharp-shinned and Cooper’s Hawk, American Kestrel, and an occasional Broad-winged Hawk.

In the fall, Great Blue Herons are frequently spotted along Antietam Creek. White-crowned Sparrows are among the wintering species. At night, Barred Owls, Screech Owls, and Great Horned Owls can be heard. Perhaps the most visible birds hovering over the park are Turkey and Black Vultures. There is an active Eastern Bluebird nest box program and the birds are easily observed throughout the park.

Wheelchair Access:

For those who are mobility impaired, the mapped auto tour route offers an opportunity to bird from or near the car. The Visitor Center and restrooms are handicapped-accessible. The natural surface trails are not wheelchair-accessible. Some of the historical structures are accessible; see details on the National Park Service website.

Pet Policy:

Pets are permitted on the grounds and must be on a leash at all times. You must clean up after your pet. Pets are not allowed in the Visitor Center, historic buildings, or in the Antietam National Cemetery.

Special Features:

The historic nature of Antietam Battlefield, with its many monuments and farm sites, makes it a unique place to bird at any season of year. A number of organized hikes of the Battlefield as well as reenactments are held, along with major celebrations on some national holidays. Consult the calendar at https://www.nps.gov/anti/planyourvisit/calendar.htm if you would prefer to avoid crowds when visiting for birding.

Local MOS Chapter:

The local chapter of the Maryland Ornithological Society is the Washington County Bird Club, which offers field trips and meetings with informative presentations, all free and open to the public.

Parking:

Paved lots and along roadsides. See Trail Map at link in the At a Glance section of this webpage.

Directions:

Take I-70 to exit 29 for MD Route 65/Sharpsburg Pike. Follow MD Route 65 south for 10 miles. After passing Sharpe Lane on the left, watch for a sign for the Visitor Center. Turn left onto Dunker Church Road for the Visitor Center. A number of monuments and historic markers can be observed on the approach to the main entrance.

Nearby Sites:

Washington County: Fort Frederick State Park/Big Pool ■ Greenbrier State Park ■ Indian Springs Wildlife Management Area ■ Sideling Hill Wildlife Management Area & Woodmont Natural Resources Management Area

Habitats:

Bottomland Deciduous ForestsHedgerowsUpland Deciduous Forests Lawn, Ballfields, Golf Course Agricultural Crop Fields or Fallow FieldsHay Meadows, Pasture, Grass FieldOld Fields, Shrubby Meadows Freshwater Marsh or FloodplainRivers & Streams

Features: