Gettysburg
Visiting Gettysburg is a task. There is a lot here to assimilate. There are also lots of people trying to make a buck off of what happened here. There must be six or eight ‘ghost’ tours. Horseback tours, bus tours, several audio tours, guided tours,tours of houses, farms, streets, restaurants named after various people in the battle, and on and on. Lots of information to be had but learning from a ghost seems a bit much.
We spent several hours yesterday afternoon in the visitor center. Started with a 20 minute movie giving an overview of the battle. Next was the cyclorama. Pretty hard to describe except to say Amazing!. 360 degree picture, 44 feet high, depicting all the events of the battle. The whole thing was restored several years ago inch by inch. Visitors stand on a rotating platform and view painting which is presented with narration and special effects lighting. Truly impossible to describe adequately.
Portion of cyclorama depicting Pickett’s Charge
Next a trip through the museum, laid out in chronological order and filled with information on battle locations and participants. A trip through the gift store was next. Pretty typical. Same shirts and cups with different names on them. (Not quite that bad but still pretty typical.) One difference – tons of books on the battle and the Civil War. After the store a 45 minute presentation by a ranger describing the progression of the battle.
Today (8/11)was a long one.
First thing, back to visitor center to take bus to Eisenhower Farm. Only home Eisenhowers ever owned. (They lived in over 40) Lots of information from rangers and docents and thorough tour of house. Tour passes through or looks into just about every room in the house. Over 95% of furnishings are original. Self guided tour of grounds and Farm 2 (Eisenhower raised prize winning show cattle). Beautiful place. Everywhere you look you see green fields and farm land. No traffic. No noise.
Bus back to the visitor center (bus driver gave a nice narration of battlefield sights along the way) to catch another, smaller, bus. Goal this time – The Spangler Farm. This farm is located about a mile from the site of the battle and was used as a field hospital during and after the battle. Over 1900 men occupied the house, barn, and farm land. The farm is being restored by a nonprofit historical organization. Three days a week they give informational tours and the story of the dead and wounded is presented by several re-enactors who give very emotional presentations.
Back to visitor center to get car and prepare for next tour.
Exterior of Cyclorama building to give some idea of size of painting.
After lunch we toured the battlefield. We purchased an audio tour which guides you along the auto tour and gives a description of what you are seeing and lots of historical information and some little known tidbits.
This monument is located approximately where Lee watched Pickett’s Charge and the defeat and decimation of his army.
These trees saw the Battle of Gettysburg. They were in fact the focus point toward which Pickett’s Charge was directed. Monument at lower left marks the ‘High Water’ point. Farthest advance of Confederates before being routed. It took two more years for the Civil War to officially end but the beginning of the end started right at this point.
The audio tour takes over 2 1/2 hours to play. It took us nearly six hours to do the tour.
Last stop for the day was the national cemetery.
Monument to Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Not location it was delivered. Plaque on right is address. Plaque on left is invitation given to Lincoln on the occasion of the dedication of the cemetery and inviting him to “say a few words”.
Address was given from a wooden platform near where this memorial now stands.
