. I am back, safe and sound, from a 4 day trip out to see Dido. It's a 3-hour trip there, so I spent Monday night, then Tuesday we left for Gettysburg, which I believe is another 2 hours.
Gettysburg National Park was really really awesome. I especially liked seeing the battlefield, which is quite spread apart and maintained by the park service as rolling hills of green, but you can definitely see how the hills were used by both sides for defensive purposes.
We signed up for the guided bus tour and I was delighted to find out that the two of us were the only ones on the tour (!) so the guide gave us his full attention. He said he'd been doing the tours for 41 years, so yes, he had an encyclopediac mind chock full of all sorts of fascinating details.
For example, there is a memorial/statue dedicated to the last documented Civil War veteran to die at the age of 106, in 1956. He was a Union Army drummer boy from Minnesota who enlisted at 14.
One of my favorite photos above.
This is part of the cyclorama, a massive, 360-degree painting done in 1883.
This is the Pennyslvania Memorial, the largest one at the park, representing the 34,000 Pennyslvania soldiers who fought in the Civil War. Each state that fought there has its own memorial.
This is Little Round Top, site of a pivotal battle and intense fighting that purportedly decided the direction of the war.
General George Meade, who President Lincoln put in command of the Army only 3 days before the battle at Gettysburg.
You can also drive around the park yourself and look at the many statues and plaques.
There are 3 battlefield observation towers, and we climbed this one.
From atop the tower you could see the small stone farmhouse that had been purchased by a newly freed slave who worked very hard to fix up his farm, only to have to run with his family for their lives when the Confederates were coming. When he returned after the battle of Gettysburg, there were shallow graves dug all over his land, the farmhouse demolished. A sad story. He got reparations, but less than he asked for.
Before leaving Gettysburg, we also stopped by the farmhouse that Eisenhauer purchased upon his retirement. It's pretty modest for a former president, but he had many famous visitors, including Winston Churchill, Nikita Khrushchev and Charles De Gaulle. This is the back of the house. We were not allowed to go inside, unfortunately.
After that, we stopped at the Hawk Mountain raptor center and walked the trails to take a break from the driving.
I have been busy as a bee since my arrival home Thursday. I mowed the lawn, planted my vegetable garden, went grocery shopping, went to the gym, etc etc. I missed the May Day demonstration in my town.
It's good to be home, but it was a really great trip. The weather was divine the whole time, there were no crowds and I hit no major traffic jams coming or going!
May 3rd, 2025 at 05:00 am 1746248413
May 3rd, 2025 at 05:27 am 1746250066
Ithe building still stands and is a theater and art center.
There are good write ups online if you want to Google.
I think with your family artist history, you might find them interesting.
May 3rd, 2025 at 11:53 am 1746273220
May 3rd, 2025 at 01:23 pm 1746278588
(and a private tour .... wow yes very awesome!)
May 4th, 2025 at 05:46 pm 1746380778
May 4th, 2025 at 10:55 pm 1746399342
May 11th, 2025 at 04:50 pm 1746982241
I'll also add that we had a couple of nice meals--one at the Dobbin House Tavern, built in 1776, where the staff dresses in period garb, and another on the drive home at the Folino Winery.