Memorial Illumination

Last night my husband and I along with our youngest son made the trip to Antietam National Battlefield for their Memorial Illumination which they only do one night in December.  This was our first time making the trip and I highly recommend for anyone in the area or a Civil War History person.  The volunteers line up 23,000 luminaries in perfect lines, which when viewing the perfect formation reminded me of my visits to Arlington National Cemetery.  Antietam had the bloodiest one day battle which took place along the quiet serene area of Maryland.  The 23,000 luminaries are one for each of the men killed, wounded or missing during the battle.  We did wait in line for 3 1/2 hours before going into the battlefield and it took about an hour to drive thru.  To drive thru the battlefield and know that each candle represented a person was overwhelming, everywhere you looked there were candles along the five mile route.  I did try to take some photos, but most of them did not turn out well due to moving and not being able to use a flash.

Luminaries not too far from the entrance which reflect the
150th anniversary and the stone foot bridge which is on the battlefield

A few luminaries after entering the park the moon sat perfectly right above the trees

This photo was taken from Antietam National Battlefield Website and can be viewed along with others
I had to include this photo since none of mine showed the magnitude of the luminaries.
It was like this throughout the battlefield.