- (September 2007) FREDERICK, Md. - A brand-new visitor center and all-new exhibits appear to be the cause of a doubling of visitor numbers at Monocacy National Battlefield this summer.

"Word's getting out," declared Cathy Beeler, the park's chief of interpretation. Since the new building opened in late June, the number of visitors has jumped to about 100 on weekdays and nearly 200 on weekend days, twice the previous totals.

Beeler credited the unusual combination, in the National Park Service, of a new building and new exhibits at the same time. Typically parks get funding either for a new building or for new exhibits, but rarely both at once.

The $4.2 million federal expenditure has resulted in a two-story, 7,000-square-foot building and 11 innovative "vignettes" - exhibits designed to draw visitors into a lifelike scene relating to the battle.

The June 27 dedication attracted more than 200 people, according to Beeler. NPS officials included Superintendent Susan Trail and National Capital Region Director Joe Lawler. Beeler said the hour-long outdoor program took place in 97-degree heat.

"After the ribbon was cut we brought everyone inside, which was a welcome relief."

Meanwhile the old visitor center, historic Gambrill Mill, continues to house park offices on the second floor. The first floor, which is subject to occasional flooding, will be available for educational groups and speakers.

The new building is a mile to the north, located on Route 355 across from the park's historic Best Farm. It resembles a 1950s-era dairy barn, reflecting the park's original intention to convert an existing barn on the Best Farm.

Concerns that the visitor center would have an adverse impact on the historic landscape led to a decision to site the facility across the road. Then a plan to move the cinder-block barn to the new site proved too expensive. By the time the decision was made to build a whole new building, the 1950s barn was firmly part of the design plans, Beeler said.

The result is fortunate, however, she said. The barn-like building "fits in with an agricultural landscape, but it doesn't fool visitors into thinking it's a historic structure."

The first floor comprises a lobby, the park library and offices, while the second floor is devoted to the vignettes. Each is a scene that the visitor walks into, such as a wartime railroad office, the encampment of Confederate Gen. Jubal Early, or the cellar of the Worthington farmhouse on the battlefield. Each focuses on Union, Confederate and civilian perspectives.

The vignettes are designed to give visitors a you-are-there feeling, but each also has exhibits "embedded into them," Beeler explained - artifacts and descriptive panels that complement and interpret the scene.

In the railroad office, newspaper items set the stage for the upcoming battle, and a telegraph sends a message that visitors are urged to decipher.

In the Worthington cellar, visitors will have a sense of what it was like for civilians such as 6-year-old Glenn Worthington to take cover during the July 1864 battle. Worthington later interviewed veterans and wrote a book on Monocacy, and was instrumental in creating the park, though land acquisition did not begin until decades later.

"We tried to recreate what the experience in the cellar must have been like," said Beeler. For Worthington to devote much of his life to commemorating the battle, "It must have been a powerful epiphany."

"All the exhibits are putting Monocacy in context, before, during and after the battle," Beeler said. Light and sound effects enliven the vignettes. "It's not a quiet exhibit by any means." Beeler and other park officials were involved in every aspect of planning the exhibits, working with Exhibit A Design Group in New York.

Beeler said the goal is to help visitors understand the impact of the battle on those who witnessed it. If the park is successful, she said, "maybe visitors can have some idea why they should be stewards" of places like Monocacy.

The July 9, 1864, Battle of Monocacy is often called the battle that saved Washington because the day's delay of Confederate Gen. Jubal Early's forces that intended to attack Washington allowed time for the city to be reinforced.

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