Nature and some largely forgotten history converged on a little post-Thanksgiving jaunt we took this weekend. The Appalachian Trail intersects with a small park called Gathland in rural Washington, County, Maryland. I wish I could say we went on a hike, but since the light was failing when we finally got there, we just explored the mute, stone testimonies to the man who was George Alfred Townsend, AKA “Gath.”
One of the two interpretive signs that deal directly with this enigma of a war correspondent and author of several novels includes the quote, “Mankind is always interesting, but is also fatiguing.” As a successful writer, with it would seem substantial financial means, Gath and his beloved wife Bessie built a country estate to escape mankind and Washington, DC.
As most of the other ten or so signs describe various aspects of Civil War campaigns in the area, one does not learn much more about Gath, his life, and work from the site. Bessie gets even shorter shrift. The buildings remaining in the park, constructed from an attractive local stone, include Gath’s “empty tomb” – highly creepy, even if his mortal remains did not end up there – and the ruins of what appears to have been a very large barn. There are also two houses intact, and the park web site promises a museum in one of them, open in the tourist season.
The central attraction of the property is a massive and curious memorial to war correspondents, planned and perhaps financed by Gath. It towered over the peaceful late fall landscape like the sole remaining wall of a castle, with arches and crenelations, statuary and niches. And a weather vane.
Perhaps we will return to visit the museum if/when it is open. Perhaps we will acquire a copy of one of Gath’s novels, such as The Entailed Hat, or Patty Cannon’s Times (as you see from this link, it is available on Amazon) and read it to better understand this contemporary of Mark Twain’s. Perhaps not. Meanwhile, visiting what remains of Gath’s country estate and trying to decipher his life from the meager outdoor interpretation available in the park made for an interesting afternoon.
