Kilroy Was Here!

Gettysburg

Gettysburg: Land of the Blue and the Gray. Would you believe that used to be WGET's tag line a million years ago? I lived near Gettysburg when I was a child... as did every relative before me. My great-great-grandfather Addison Haverstick actually found one of the cannonballs used in the battle. Apparently it wound up on his farm.

When I was a kid, G-Burg was really just another place to go shopping aside from going to Hanover (which is the site of another civil war battle.) As I grew older, moved away and got into history I began to appreciate the significance of this place. The United States could be a completely different place if it were not for what happened at this spot.

The battlefield is pretty easy to tour. Visitors can take self guided tours in their car (it's good to have a co-pilot) which take two to three hours. The Visitor Center also has CD's for the car stereo detailing the battle. Licensed guides, Ranger programs and tour buses can also be lined up.

There are a lot of ghost tails floating around about the battlefield. I'm neither going to confirm nor discount that. When I came back from the 2005 trip, people asked if I felt like the place was haunted. I really didn't get a wigged feeling. Instead I felt like I had come back to an old homestead. Read on and you may gather why.

G-Burg 2005

Above is the site of the Gettysburg Address -our first stop on the September 2005 G-Burg Trip. I referred to this whole trip, which also included visits to New Oxford, Hanover, York and Shanksville, as the Magical History Trip. It was also the "Meet Amanda's Relatives" trip for my husband Tony. The battlefield turned out to be the perfect vacation for Tony as he very much enjoyed stopping the car and taking a picture of every monument there. Some of the following pictures are hazy. Thank the 90 degree weather for that.

Random!

Let's get the random pictures out of the way first. BTW, some of the pics I've posted are thumbnails (like these) so click them to see a bigger better picture. The first shot is of the Railroad Cut which is between McPherson Ridge and Oak Ridge. The second picture was taken at the base of the Eternal Light Peace Memorial (a.k.a. Peace Light). Finally we have a shot of beautiful downtown G-Burg from one of the observation towers on the battlefield.

Pickett's Charge

The site of Pickett's Charge is by the Virginia Memorial. Pickett's Charge, which took place July 3, was the last Confederate assault of the battle. Consider that the above pictures are of more than just cannons, a fence row and open fields.

Little Round Top

Little Round Top is probably my favorite place on earth. I'm not kidding. It's sooooo awesome! I did not want to leave G-Burg without seeing Little Round Top. I was there once before during a fifth grade field trip. It's got beautiful views. The first picture gives a bird's eye view of Devil's Den. In the second, apparently a tour group was studying the area. I took the third picture by crawling out on one of the big rocks.

Why am I posing beside the Weikert House? Because battlefield George and I share a grandfather from way back in the day. I'm not going to get into the logistics of it, but I am descended from Weikerts. It was pretty cool to see the house. Purportedly the place is haunted.

The Pennsylvania Memorial

Upon our arrival Tony was all about seeing the Pennsylvania Memorial. I can't blame him. However, it always works out that the first thing you look for is the last thing you find. Thus, this was the next to last stop on our tour. It was well worth the wait. Notice those black rectangles at the base of the monument in the first picture. Those are plaques with the name of every Pennsylvanian that fought at Gettysburg. I found one Haverstick and a Haverstock. There should be other Haversticks on there, though the thing is absolutely maddening to look at as far as finding names. The monument is pretty immense --as illustrated in the pic of me standing under Lincoln and Grant. It also has some narrow winding stairs inside so visitors can go up to the top of it.

G-Burg 1989

When I was in fifth grade our class field trip that year was to... you guessed it -the battlefield. It helps to have a chunk of history six miles away from school. The bummer is it rained that day, so no Devil's Den. Out of our trip, I remember going to the Hall of Presidents Wax Museum, seeing the Electric Map (ugh) and Little Round Top. We also drove around town and listened to a tour guide point out all the houses that still had shells in them from the war. The first pic above is the part of the battlefield marked off as the cemetery. The long strip sticking up is the grave marker. Many of them read "unknown." The next picture is of the National Tower which we did not go in because "it costs money." The final picture is of the Peace Light. I forget who all is walking around up there, except my friend Marcia is the first of the three figures lined up in the front of it. Her mom is walking up the stairs.

On July 2nd of 2000, The National Tower was imploded after twenty odd years of bickering about its existence. The above picture, which I did not take, shows the dastardly deed in progress. I never got to go up in the thing for the blanket reason all parents gave: it costs money.

For more information check out www.gettysburg.com or www.nps.gov/gett