Gettysburg

We finally went to Gettysburg.  It's actually very close to where we are staying/working but didn't go earlier because of the government shutdown.  It was a cold day, but since we were in the car or museum most of the time, it was fine.  The museum was excellent.  They had an informative video and a cyclorama that portrayed the various battles going on all around the city, from every direction.  What a horrendous loss of life.  Hard to fathom -- about 50,000 dead from both sides in the three-day battle. The 150th anniversary of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was commemorated earlier in the week, so it was special to be there right at this time.

The historic military area of Gettysburg is quite large with many open fields.  We could only imagine the blood spilled on this land.  We went to many of the battlefield sites that were part of the audio tour, and saw some of the hundreds of statues.  (There are more statues in this park than anywhere else in the United States!)

 Peace Memorial

 The Eisenhower National Historic Park was in the area, too, but we wanted to get home before dark so missed it, unfortunately.  Next time!

One of the highlights of the day for me was having lunch at the Dobbin House Tavern, eating our crab cake sandwich (can't get enough crab cakes!) in candlelight, and being served by costumed waiters.  The house was originally owned by a Rev. Dobbin.  He and his first wife had 10 children;  after she died he remarried a woman with 9 children.  That's 19 children!!!!  Whew!   He had also built into the house a secret compartment to hide runaway slaves, which they had replicated and portrayed in dim light.   I was particularly interested in it because my ancestors had built a house in Pickrelltown, Ohio to hide slaves and help with the Underground Railroad.

We will be leaving this area in a couple of days.