SHAF Wins State Grant for Tolson’s Chapel

May 1, 2006

The Maryland Historical Trust anounced a grant to the Save Historic Antietam Foundation (SHAF) of $50,000 in FY2007 for “carpentry and masonry repairs to foundation, sills, floors & supports, roof repairs and installation of cupola” on Tolson’s Chapel in Sharpsburg.

Tolson's ChapelTolson’s was used as a free school immediately after the Civil War, educating the town’s African-American children. It is one of very few free schools still standing in the state of Maryland. Following construction of a slightly larger school in town, the building was used as an AME church until the mid-20th century. When SHAF acquired it in 2003, Tolson’s Chapel had not been touched since its closing.

SHAF teams have stabilized the structure and are now planning further preservation activities.

SHAF logo in blue

SHAF has been preserving and protecting historic sites related to the Battle of Antietam, the Maryland Campaign, and other Civil War activity in the region since 1986. We need your help to keep it going.

Robert E. Lee

Antietam Witness

This great battle was fought by less than 40,000 men on our side, all of whom had undergone the greatest labors and hardships in the field and on the march. Nothing could surpass the determined valor with which they met the large army of the enemy, fully supplied and equipped, and the result reflects the highest credit on the officers and men engaged.


- R.E. Lee

August 19, 1863