Mary Locher Cabin, Route 65 (Hagerstown Pike), Sharpsburg, Washington County, MD

Significance: This abandoned farm dwelling is historically significant as part of a farmstead that existed before and during the Battle of Antietam, and as a surviving structure in the West Woods landscape, north of the town of Sharpsburg. The modest, multi-cell structure in its earliest form dated to around the turn of the 19th century, and was likely built for use by the acting tenant farming and family, on property held by wealthy land speculators. The siting of the log structure on a series of rocky outcroppings, inappropriate for agricultural use, and its location upon a knoll situated along an early farm lane, reflect traditional patterns of rural development in Western Maryland. Ultimately, this specific farmstead like many others in the Hagerstown Valley, were part of the innocent landscape that witnessed one of the most horrific, yet defining battles of the Civil War, the Battle of Antietam - occurring on September 17, 1862. The dwelling's proximity to the concentration of fighting at the West Woods, where the Union and Confederate armies clashed in the bloody morning phase of the battle, guaranteed the property's role as a field hospital. The farm was occupied by Confederate troops leading up to the battle, and was used as an encampment for weeks after. At this time, title to the farm property was held by Mary Locher of the locally prominent Grove Family. Mrs. Locher, an absentee owner residing in Pennsylvania, leased to a tenant farmer, Alfred Poffenberger, of a large, local farming family. It was Alfred Poffenberger, the Civil War era resident, who filed a war claim to the Federal Government for the destruction and seizure of crops. Alfred's younger step-brother, George Poffenberger, purchased the farm in the 1890s from the Locher heirs, and although he soon after built a grand residence across Hagerstown Pike, the cabin and barn remained in the family until acquired by the National Park Service for inclusion in the Antietam National Battlefield.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N689
Survey number: HABS MD-90
Building/structure dates: ca. 1800 Initial Construction
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 66000038