We pass the exit for GETTYSBURG NATIONAL MILITARY
PARK most every time we
drive south, but never took the time to visit until now.
We started at the visitor
center. Many National Park visitor centers offer a free orientation movie. Gettysburg charged a fee
for a combined ticket including a movie, cyclorama, and museum.
• The movie narrated by Morgan Freeman gave a good background
of the Civil War tension and the 3-day battle. (We found a YouTube version
here.)
• The cyclorama is a cylindrical shaped panoramic painting
meant to give viewers a 360° view.
Cycloramas were popular in the late 19th century. This 42 ft tall, 377
ft long cyclorama was painted in 1883, was displayed in various places
including Boston, was purchased by the
National Parks in the 1940s, and recently underwent a 13-million dollar
restoration before it opened in a new visitor center in 2008. Narration and
spotlighting sections of the cyclorama told the story. It was pretty cool.
(Wikipedia has a write up here.)
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| one section of the Gettysburg Cyclorama – Cemetery Ridge |
The 3-day Battle of
Gettysburg involved 175,000 troops and covered a huge swath of land. The
National Park manages nearly 4,000 acres surrounding the town of Gettysburg and has
partially restored it to its 1863 condition. Seeing the land really helps bring
the history to life. This can be done by bus tour ($$), by having a battlefield
guide join you in your car ($$), or by following the free self-guided auto
tour. You can probably guess which one we chose – the self-guided auto tour.
Signs along the route
explain the battle chronologically.
The first things we noticed
were the monuments. There are 1,328 monuments – big, small, ornate, simple,
Union, Confederate, individuals, regiments, states… just lots of monuments.
 |
| many monuments line the road |
 |
| Virginia Monument |
 |
General Warren on Little
Roundtop
|
Barbara wanted to look for a
particular letterbox that required following a set of pictures.
 |
| part of the clue - all pictures |
It was a
challenge to follow (things changed since the clue was written 8 years ago),
but we found the box. Just as we finished we struck up a conversation with a
local resident and history buff who connected with us on a number of things including
Dayton aviation, Massachusetts,
and New Jersey.
His eyes lit up when he talked about history – we thought he would be a great
volunteer with the National Parks.
We ended our day at the Gettysburg National Cemetery.
The town of Gettysburg
dealt with the aftermath, burying the thousands of casualties. Four months
later, Abraham Lincoln delivered his now famous Gettysburg Address at the
cemetery's consecration.
no campground: stayed at
Super8 Gettysburg, 201mi 3hr 36min from Staunton
VA via Luray Caverns
