Gathland State Park
At Crampton's Gap

A Man and his Mountain...

Astride the ridge known as South Mountain, near Burkittsville at Crampton's Gap, lies Gathland State Park,. The home of an unusual man, Gathland was an architecturally unique estate made up of as many as twenty structures, many of them built of rugged stone, individual in purpose and design. A number of buildings still stand, and the remains of others may be seen by visitors to the park.

Born on January 30, 1841, George Alfred Townsend became the youngest war correspondent of the Civil War. He served both at home and abroad, and later became one of America's most important journalists and novelists of the Reconstruction Era. His pen name, Gath, form which the Park derives its name, was formed by adding an H to his initials and was inspired by a biblical passage: (II Samuel 1:20) "Tell it not in Gath publish it not in the streets of Askalon."

In 1884 Townsend purchased a tract of land on South Mountain, an area particularly attractive to him because of its proximity to Antietam and other historical sites of the Civil War. Closely associated with this historical aspect, the natural beauty of the site and the imposing views of the valleys appealed to him.

The planning, design and construction of the buildings was a hobby with Townsend, and he pressed forward with plans to convert his mountainside into a retreat from the pressures of his strenuous writing schedule. Among his first efforts was Gathland Hall built in 1885, soon after Townsend acquired the land, and enlarged at one time to include 11 rooms. Probably occupied by his wife, Bessie, this building was partially restored in 1958, and how houses the Park Visitor's Center. The Den and Library Building was erected in 1890 -- it contained a large library, a study and writing room, and 10 upstairs bedrooms. The foundations of this building are still intact, but the walls have long since crumbled, and only fragments of the original building remain.

Gapland Lodge, built in 1885, was a stone building, thought to be used as servants quarters; it now serves as a museum building. West of Gapland Hall are the remains of a mausoleum, built by Gath in 1895. A large bronzed dog graced the top of the tomb, and a white marble slab over the door bore the inscription "Good night Gath." This building was perhaps intended to become Gath's final resting-place but the dog was stolen, the building deteriorated into rubble, and there is no evidence that the tomb was ever used as a burial place. Townsend himself died in New York in 1914.

Probably Townsend's most unique and certainly his most lasting architectural endeavor at Gathland is an unusual monument erected in 1896 as a memorial to his fellow war correspondents. Ruthanna Hindes, in her book, George Alfred Townsend, describes the monument in some detail:

The unusual monument was dedicated by Governor Lloyd Lowndes on October 16, 1896, and in 1904 was turned over to the National Park Service to be maintained as a National Monument.