Feb/March 2006 SHARPSBURG, Md. ’Äî If you want to see Antietam Battlefield your way ’Äî maybe at a special time of day, or following a certain route, or related to a special interest ’Äî the Antietam Battlefield Guide Service is ready for you.

The private guided tours are offered through Western Maryland Interpretive Association, which runs the park bookstore, in partnership with Antietam National Battlefield. The service is reminiscent of the Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guides program in that the guides must pass written and field tests and are supervised.

Guide service director Stephen Recker says the park started talking about having a guide service in 1933. Two years ago he moved to the area to do research and picked up on the idea after people at the park suggested it to him.

Prospective guides are given a reading list and basic study guide. Recker administers a two-hour exam. It is a demanding test, and this is where the Antietam model differs from Gettysburg’Äôs. That park has many more people vying for limited guide positions and many are not accepted. The Antietam approach is to ’Äúspend a little more time nurturing people and helping them through the process,’Äù Recker says.

The goal is to create a ’Äúcommunity of guides,’Äù not fail people. Experienced guides mentor younger ones and Recker is happy to let people who don’Äôt make it the first time try again.

He cautions that just because the Sept. 19, 1862, battle was one day, as opposed to Gettysburg’Äôs three days, that doesn’Äôt mean the guide test is easy, as some prospects who didn’Äôt make the cut at Gettysburg have discovered.

The guides must join the park as volunteers and go through orientation and training that familiarizes them with park procedures and such subjects as public safety and community relations.

Right now the service has eight guides, including authors who have been at it a long time, retired military and people who were volunteer guides on their own. Those with special interests, such as medicine, are encouraged to develop specialty tours.

Recker invites interested prospective guides to visit the battlefield with the guides ’Äúeven if they don’Äôt feel ready.’Äù He’Äôs thinking ahead to when some of these people retire and would like to guide at the battlefield.

Tour appointments are made directly with the guide service. The typical battlefield tour is two hours and covers the basics of the battle and Maryland Campaign, as well as features of historical interest and markings on the battlefield. The rates for two-hour tours start at $50 for up to six people. Advance reservations are requested for special-interest and extended-length tours.

Most tours start behind the visitor center where Harpers Ferry and South Mountain can be seen. The guides drive the visitors’Äô cars and join bus groups. Recker says they do a fair amount of hiking, often with people who want to walk the ground their ancestors trod. Military groups want command and control staff rides.

He tells of a couple who toured to see where their ancestors on opposite sides fought near the Cornfield. ’ÄúHis monument and her marker were right across the street from each other. The man was near tears as he read, on that spot, from his great-grandfather’Äôs unpublished diary, a copy of which he later donated to the park library. It was an amazing moment.’Äù The private tours, which can be tailored to a visitor’Äôs schedule and depth of interest, supplement park ranger programs. The guides often recommend park programs, such as on the anniversary, to visitors. Through an adopt-a-unit program guides donate fees for a regimental tour to the unit’Äôs monument.

To schedule a tour or to inquire about being a guide contact Stephen Recker at Antietam Tours P.O. Box 705, Sharpsburg, MD 21782, (800) 417-9596, www.virtualantietam.com/guide

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