Antietam Faces Cell Tower Threat
By Deborah Fitts

SHARPSBURG, Md. — Officials at Antietam National Battlefield are opposing a proposed cell tower that would be “quite visible” from key points on the battlefield.

 “This is the closest” to the battlefield that a cell tower has been proposed, according to Superintendent John Howard. “Most all the cell companies around here have been very cooperative” and have steered clear of impinging on park viewsheds.

Liberty Towers LLC of Hanover, Md., seeks approval for a 120-foot-tall tower that would be sited off of Mondel Road, about a mile due south from the park visitor center. Howard said a balloon test, where a helium balloon is flown at the height of the tower, demonstrated that the structure would be “quite visible” from the park.

Most affected would be high points like the Piper Farm, the ridge of the Final Attack Trail near Burnside Bridge and Lee’s headquarters site, among other locales.

“It was very evident,” said Howard of the balloon, “rising 30 to 40 feet above the tree line in most places.”

Liberty Towers is proposing to disguise the tower as a farm silo. But Howard noted wryly, “We drove around but we couldn’t find any 120-foot barn silos around here. It would be very dominant on the landscape.”

As a consequence, he said, if Liberty Towers does win approval, the park will ask that the tower be the conventional monopole design, which would be less obtrusive.

But at this point the park has voiced its opposition to the tower, asserting that it would have “a definite impact on the battlefield” and recommending against approval. Liberty Towers has to comply with the National Historic Preservation Act, which requires special study when a proposal would impact a historic site.

Howard said that in the past, other cell companies dropped their proposals in the face of opposition from the park. Many have resorted to placing their antennas on the Sharpsburg water tower, a structure that has been in place “forever.”

Besides the water tower, the next closest cell tower is located in Boonsboro, 7 miles distant.