MPT Specials

This MPT documentary explores the long-term environmental effects posed by hydraulic fracturing (fracking)as a means of extracting natural gas within the Marcellus Shale Deposit in New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Maryland. Are the profits to be made worth the risks? (35:00)

The Heart of the Civil War tells stories from some of the most fought-over U.S. territory during the War Between the States. During the war, Confederate and Union forces clashed again and again for control of strategic points throughout three counties in west-central Maryland – Washington, Frederick, and Carroll Counties – as the war marched north-to-south from the confederacy to the union, and back again. The American Civil War, its causes, and the aftermath have shaped our country's cultural landscape in countless ways. The significance of the Civil War in north-central Maryland is indisputable; this region is where major battles took place, important decisions were made, and notable personalities made their presence known. The Heart of the Civil War area, adjacent to the Mason-Dixon Line, was generally viewed as the dividing line between North and South. Slavery could be found throughout this region, but took on a new meaning after Pennsylvania abolished the institution in 1781. The western part of the Mason-Dixon Line and the Ohio River became a border between free and slave states, although Delaware remained a slave state. By the 1850's, the Mason-Dixon Line symbolically became the cultural boundary between the Northern United States and the Southern United States. The Heart of the Civil War recounts the war's far-reaching impact on the lives of ordinary but battle-weary Marylanders caught up in now-famous local battles, the conflicted struggles of believers in the confederate cause living on Union soil, and the turbulent, unpredictable politics of war that ultimately helped to preserve the Union. At the film's end, a brief travelogue takes viewers on a tour of The Heart of the Civil War area, highlighting places of interest to see and discover as visitors tour the region.