View Full Version : FYI: Antietam shelter PA, a Requiem
https://www.southmountainjournal.com/home/2018/4/2/antietam-shelter
https://www.southmountainjournal.com/home/2018/4/2/antietam-shelter
why move a shelter? is a new one being built at the old location?
Strategic
05-06-2019, 15:37
It's a sad thing to see a piece of history like Antietam shelter leave the trail. The article in the link does make a mistake, though; Antietam is not the only original shelter left on the trail. There are still the old stone shelters in Harriman State Park, all of which date to the trail's founding in the 1920s. Fingerboard shelter, for instance, was built in 1927 and is still right where it's always been.
Kaptainkriz
05-06-2019, 20:06
Pine Knob in MD is original from 1939 I think....and the old original Rocky Run Shelter stands down the hill from the new one still.
It's a sad thing to see a piece of history like Antietam shelter leave the trail. The article in the link does make a mistake, though; Antietam is not the only original shelter left on the trail. There are still the old stone shelters in Harriman State Park, all of which date to the trail's founding in the 1920s. Fingerboard shelter, for instance, was built in 1927 and is still right where it's always been.
LittleRock
05-07-2019, 07:46
Sad to see a piece of history go away, but there are shelters 1.2 mi south and 2.4 mi north of there, so it makes sense why they are doing it.
The article doesn't mention anything about dismantling the privy. There is supposed to be ample room for tents near the shelter so I wonder if they might leave it as a designated campsite with a privy.
I have tent camped many times near the Antietam shelter and there is indeed plenty of tent camping space on the gas line right of way which is only yards from the shelter. In addition to the privy I wonder if the water source for Antietam shelter will be maintained. It is a spigot at a small brick building maybe 100 yards from the shelter.
Slo-go'en
05-09-2019, 08:32
I was just there last week, and except for soaking my feet in the river for a few minutes, kept on walking. The shelter is run down and the fire ring was full of beer cans, whisky bottles and assorted trash. It's way too close to the park and roads. It also looks like it floods in high water.
In general, all the shelters in PA are way too close to roads and too easy to get to, but Antietam is about the worse in that regard.
It's a sad thing to see a piece of history like Antietam shelter leave the trail. The article in the link does make a mistake, though; Antietamis not the only original shelter left on the trail. There are still the old stone shelters in Harriman State Park, all of which date to the trail's founding in the 1920s. Fingerboard shelter, for instance, was built in 1927 and is still right where it's always been.
And Fingerboard looks like it. Back in 2015 I ate my dinner there, but set my tent up on the rock surface above it.