Antietam National Cemetery: Cultural Landscape Report, Antietam National Battlefield, National Park Service

Commisso, Michael

As an integral part of Antietam National Battlefield, Antietam National Cemetery is one of the 130 cemeteries of the National Cemetery System that was initially established in 1865. Located within the Town of Sharpsburg, the cemetery contains the remains of over 4,776 Union soldiers (1,836 or 38% are unknown) from the Battle of Antietam, South Mountain, Monocacy, and other action in Maryland. The cemetery also retains many cultural landscape features, including a stone perimeter, completed between 1865 and 1867; a lodge completed in 1868; headstones and monuments, cast iron placards and rostrum, all of which date from the late 1870s and 1880s; and a blend of evergreens and deciduous trees that help make the cemetery distinctive from the surrounding open farmland. Antietam National Cemetery derives significance under National Register Criterion A in the areas of military history and commemoration. It derives significance under Criterion C in the areas of landscape architecture and architecture. Antietam National Cemetery also meets Criteria Consideration D as a primary memorial to the military history of the United States and Criteria Consideration F for its role in the memorialization and commemoration efforts carried out by Civil War veterans, citizens, and the federal government. The overall period of significance for the Antietam National Cemetery is 1865 to the present. Under Criterion A, the period begins with the establishment of the cemetery in 1865 and extends to the present. The period of significance reflects the ongoing role and exceptional importance of national cemeteries as public places of commemoration and honor. Under Criterion C, the period of significance begins with the initial development of the cemetery in 1865, continues through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries with the implementation of character-defining standardized landscape features by the War Department, and ends in 1933 with its transfer to the National Park Service. Despite retaining a high level of integrity, the Antietam National Cemetery cultural landscape has been diminished through the loss and subsequent changes of deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs. The cemetery is also currently inaccessible to people with mobility impairments. The primary focus of this cultural landscape report is to assist the park in addressing these and other issues in order to preserve and enhance the historic character of the cemetery.

Antietam National Cemetery: Cultural Landscape Report, Antietam National Battlefield, National Park Service

Series

Collections