The Locher/Poffenberger farmstead: how one Antietam tenant family fared after the battle

A tenant family at Antietam appears to have been one of the more fortunate after the Civil War battle, and an abandoned log cabin helps show it. The Locher/Poffenberger farmstead sits on the western edge of the West Woods and holds a log cabin built in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. The Park Service calls it a surviving reminder of the battle, its aftermath and the perseverance of those who stayed to rebuild.

The Mary Locher / Alfred Poffenberger farmstead highlighted in red on the western edge of the West Woods. NPS image.

One tenant family

Archeological and historical work lets researchers see how a tenant farmer's family, the Alfred Poffenbergers, dealt with the changes the war brought. The family appears to have been one of the more fortunate: it prospered after the battle of Antietam. It could buy the popular ceramics of the day, raised pigs and cows, doubled its land holdings and possibly even added a room to the cabin. Even so, Alfred Poffenberger moved his family to Iowa by 1870, perhaps for more promising opportunities.

What was found

The cabin in a 1930s photograph, with its cold cellar and stone walkway. NPS image.

Contract archeologists excavating at the cabin. NPS image.

Ceramic and glass sherds, animal remains and personal items found in the farmyard. NPS image.

A decorated personal charm from the cabin. NPS image.

The park also found highly decorated buttons at the cabin. What was learned here will be combined with archeological work at the Mumma Farm and archival research on other Antietam farms and plantations, to understand how the battle changed people's lives, affected decisions about their livelihoods and, in the end, how those decisions showed in the landscape.

Sources

• National Park Service, Antietam National Battlefield, "Battlefield and Farmsteads" (https://www.nps.gov/articles/battlefield-and-farmsteads.htm), part of the series "Archeology at Antietam: The Effect of Battle on an Agrarian Landscape"; rewritten in hubnx's own words.