Pwenner: This old postcard depicts the estate of George Alfred Townsend adjacent to the War Correspondents' Arch that he built in 1896. Townsend wrote under the pen name "Gath", which was derived by adding an "H" to his initials, and inspired by the biblical passage II Samuel 1:20, "Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askalon." The backstory is that in 1884, Townsend began building this baronial estate in the Catoctin Mountains called "Gapland," near Burkittsville. Gapland was built...

2022-04-10T22:24:19Z

This old postcard depicts the estate of George Alfred Townsend adjacent to the War Correspondents' Arch that he built in 1896. Townsend wrote under the pen name "Gath", which was derived by adding an "H" to his initials, and inspired by the biblical passage II Samuel 1:20, "Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askalon." The backstory is that in 1884, Townsend began building this baronial estate in the Catoctin Mountains called "Gapland," near Burkittsville. Gapland was built...

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== Summary ==
This old postcard depicts the estate of George Alfred Townsend adjacent to the War Correspondents' Arch that he built in 1896. Townsend wrote under the pen name "Gath", which was derived by adding an "H" to his initials, and inspired by the biblical passage II Samuel 1:20, "Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askalon."

The backstory is that in 1884, Townsend began building this baronial estate in the Catoctin Mountains called "Gapland," near Burkittsville. Gapland was built on the site of the Battle of Crampton's Gap, and is in close proximity to the battlefields of South Mountain and Antietam. The estate was composed of several buildings, including Gapland Hall, Gapland Lodge, the Den and Library Building, and a mausoleum (notable for its inscription of "Good Night Gath").
(Postcard courtesy of John Wayne Droneburg)

[[Category:Smoketown In and Around]]

File:Gathland Postcard.jpeg - Revision history