Pilgrimage
Despite growing up mostly in Rochester, New York only a fairly short trip from it, I had never visited Gettysburg. Well, that has been corrected now. I am writing this from a hotel right in the center of the town of Gettysburg. We rolled in here at around 4pm and have not had a chance to see much yet. My wife and I strolled a bit through the town and we've taken the kids to dinner. They just went out to take a "Ghost Tour" of the city, something I have no interest in whatsoever. Tomorrow, I plan to visit the places I have only read about. But places I know well from the words of others. The Peach Orchard. The Wheat Field. Devil's Den. Culp's Hill.
Little Round Top.
I'll have pictures.
History, Personal Thoughts | Gaius Thursday, 10 July , 2008
By Andy, Friday, 11 July , 2008 @ 6:59 am
At the center where you take the driving tour, some of the college professors and other Gettysburg historians will join you in your car and give a personal guided tour. It costs about $40 maybe $60, but it is well worth it. We had planned on spending about an hour, maybe two, driving the Battlefield, and ended up taking 4 or 5. My daughter, a little young, was bored to tears. My son, into the history and who had read some books, loved it. They go as fast or as slow as you want, will walk the charges with you. They know which trees were there and which were not (obviously none today were, but how the changes have effected the sight lines). Our guide was the #2 guy in the Gettysburg College history department. He knew his stuff.
By rightwingprof, Friday, 11 July , 2008 @ 7:14 am
You’re about 2 1/2 hours south of us. Gettysburg is huge. Plan to take all day. And I’d encourage you to see Valley Forge while you’re in the area — it’s just up by Philly.
By David M, Friday, 11 July , 2008 @ 8:15 am
If I had read this last night we could have made lunch arrangements. I work about 5 miles from the battlefield.
By Ted, Friday, 11 July , 2008 @ 10:00 am
The National Civil War Museum is just up the road about 45 minutes in Harrisburg (which was Lee’s intended target.)
By MikeM, Friday, 11 July , 2008 @ 10:21 am
Definitely take the kids into Devil’s Den. Even if they don’t understand what it’s all about, they will lover running around in it.And say "Hi" to my distant cousin, Gen. John F. Reynolds. His statue is just west of town.
By martian, Friday, 11 July , 2008 @ 1:55 pm
Having made several trips to the area over the years, I can recommend the Wax Museum, as well. I wrote a paper on the battle in eighth grade that included extensive battle diagrams of the entire battlefield showing all troop movements for both sides during the entire battle. It was always interesting to visit the places I had written about for school.
I, too, recommend Valley Forge. It isn’t as extensive a site as Gettysburg, but it has some interesting areas.
By N. O'Brain, Friday, 11 July , 2008 @ 5:56 pm
I’ve seen two haunted places in my life, Glen Coe in Scotland, and Gettysburg.
By David Hanson, Friday, 11 July , 2008 @ 6:54 pm
Devils Den - My family took a trip to Gettysberg at exactly the right time. What a great place for history. The boys were down in the rocks at Devil’s Den for hours. I had 1 Confederate General and 1 Union General in the back seat of my car all the way to Minnesota. Just the friendly challenges back and forth reinforced so much of the actual strategy and history. Hopefully your visit will be as good for your family.
Enjoy.
Han
By Plumb Bob, Saturday, 12 July , 2008 @ 5:49 am
I’ll second Andy’s comment about the driving tour; it’s definitely the way to go. The guides for the driving tour have to pass a rigorous test before they’re allowed to work as tour guides; the test demands knowledge at such detail that the guides are pretty much all professional historians. Our guide — this was nearly 20 years ago, mind you — was writing a book about Gen Buford, who was in some ways the real hero of Gettysburg, and he was able to tell us all the various ways that The Killer Angels erred. He also set up my kids as a gun crew on one of the cannons, which they ate up, and was able to tell us about the trajectories of several individual bullets that flew through the town. Much better than any self-tour, and priced exceedingly reasonably.
By Bithead, Saturday, 12 July , 2008 @ 10:51 am
Check and see if the Gettysberg railway is still running. They used to do a dinner train that was nice, and gave you a unique view of the counbryside to boot.
By Jonn Lilyea, Saturday, 12 July , 2008 @ 6:09 pm
I just sit on Little Roundtop and watch the whole battle in my mind from Seminary Ridge to the copse of trees. I don’t know how many hours I’ve spent up there.
By Gaius, Sunday, 13 July , 2008 @ 1:15 pm
I think the railway is still running, but when we drove past the depot it said "no trains today".