Gettysburg National Military Park, Gettysburg, PA

This historical town is a place I have wanted to visit my entire adult life. For me, this was the most exciting tourist attraction of our trip. 

My two favorite historical periods are The Civil War and World War 2. But The Civil War ranks first. I have watched Ken Burns' documentary at least a dozen times and have started it again since we arrived home. Driving and walking among these places I have learned so much about...the Wheat Field, the Peach Orchard, Little Round Top, Cemetery Ridge and of course the wide expanse of field where Pickett's Charge took place...truly was stepping on "hallowed ground" for me.

July 1-3 of this year is the 150th anniversary of the battle that began the ending of the Confederate army. Never again would the "rebels" cross over into the North to attack the Union. The tide changed here and even this many years later, thinking about the sacrifice that took place and the town of a little over 2000 that had to take care of ten times that many wounded (both Union and Confederate!) and had to bury over 50,000 bodies and live through the summer stench of 5000 dead horses, absolutely boggles my mind to try and grasp it.

There is a museum and movie on site where you can learn in detail about this famous battle. But for our family of six, it would have cost almost $70. Instead, I chose to schedule a two hour tour with a personal guide that rode in our car for $65 and taught us just as much as if Shelby Foote himself had been riding along. [That's a Ken Burns' Civil War reference right there!]

I don't know that you can request specific guides, but Larry Wallace was fantastic! He told us that we had perfect weather for the day and that with the sesquicentennial coming up, we had also chosen the perfect time. In about 2 hours, 15 minutes, he took us around to all of the major sites in Gettysburg. He said that during the big celebration, traffic would be so jammed up that he wouldn't be able to do half of what we were seeing. He also clued us in that during the months of late March through May, large school group activity deters from the battlefield guides showing you all of the sites too. What a blessing to have great weather and limited crowds.

The view from Little Round Top

For about a decade, I've decided that "some day" I'd like to take a Civil War vacation. I'd love to tour Manassas (aka Bull Run), Appomattox Station, Antietam, Chickamauga, and Andersonville Prison. If on that trip, or any other, I have the opportunity to visit Gettysburg again, I think I'd like to take a self-guided tour. I just want to wander around and look at all of the monuments first. They are amazing pieces of art and workmanship.

We didn't have a lot of time in Gettysburg. We had driven straight to the Historical Park from Philadelphia with just about an hour to spare before our tour. I think I could easily spend a few days there.

Statue of a contemporary tourist and Abraham Lincoln pointing
toward the room where Lincoln may have completed The Gettysburg Address.

 Inside the town there are little shops and different museums to see, including a free museum of General Robert E. Lee's command post that Mr. Wallace said is a great place to visit. The Lutheran seminary that was there when Gettysburg was attacked, still stands today. And you could easily spend an entire day wandering around the battlefield.

No matter how many times I hear it, The Gettysburg Address still chokes me up. And as we drove from Gettysburg to our hotel in Chambersburg, which Mr. Wallace taught us was the same path that Lee and the Confederates trod to come to Gettysburg...and retreat from it too, we drove over and around hills and mountains that were breathtaking vistas.

What I could not shake from my mind was that 150 years ago, thousands of men...with no paved roads or mechanical devices...pulled at minimum 150 cannons over those heights. Well, actually it took six horses per cannon, but the men marched for miles on end, through trees and shrubs, carrying excessively heavy loads and did not know what would happen when they reached there. For far too many, this hallowed ground was the last that they would see.