Eureka Explores: Trip Report: Gettysburg, PA

My wife recently started a new job that has an on-call schedule. In celebration of her last weekend of without a tether, we threw some locations in a hat and pulled out Gettysburg, PA. Only 90 minutes from our home, we definitely thought it would be a perfect day trip.

For those who may not be aware, the town of Gettysburg played a major role in the American Civil War, which lasted from 1861 to 1865. From July 1st to July 3rd 1863, Gettysburg saw a battle that would become legendary.

The drive was rather easy. This was on a Saturday morning, so the traffic was light. Interstate traffic soon gave way to rural. Carroll County, MD was the start of our country driving. When we spotted our first Amish person, we knew we were starting to slow down.

Another 45 minutes later, we arrived at the visitors center. A quick trip to the information and ticket counters landed us tickets to the museum, a movie viewing and the cyclorama, which is a massive 360-degree painting of the battle.

The movie was very interesting and narrated by Morgan Freeman. I appreciated the museum too, but we didn’t have much time to check it out. The cyclorama was the main draw.

Complete with its own narration and a light show, it is a small way to put you in the mind of what a soldier on the field may have heard. When my wife and I were talking to a park ranger, he said that a soldier from Gettysburg wrote in a letter that the sound of the battle was as powerful if not more so than the sound of Niagara Falls. That is why I say a small piece of the soldier’s experience.

We decided to grab lunch before we started the tour. I’d gotten a suggestion from an employee at the visitor’s center. That suggestion? Gettysburger! I’m not sure if this local burger joint came before the reference on the TV show Scandal or not, but it has my vote no matter what. I settled on the Gettysburger. Two 8-oz Pattie’s, and a triple decker burger bun. The flavor was not too bad, with such a large amount of meat, you’re bound to lose some of it. To quote Anthony Bourdain, “every man has their own personal ‘Waterloo.’ This was my Waterloo.”

Honorable mention to the jalapeño poppers with a grape jelly dipping sauce.

A second honorable mention goes to Mr. G’s Ice Cream in downtown.

After lunch, we were on our way for the self-guided auto tour. If you are not into figuring out the specifics of Gettysburg by yourself, you can take a guided bus tour of the battleground. If you prefer some exclusivity but still want the guided tour experience, you can pay for a guide to take you around the battlefield in your own car. This was a fascinating concept.

The thing to remember about the auto tour is that you don’t have go it entirely alone. The National Park Service (NPS) has a nifty app that you can download for free. Once you find the Gettysburg National Military park site, you can get a nice prerecorded tour to take you through the stops.

Honestly, there is far too much for me to cover in one post. Of note are McPherson Ridge, the North Carolina and Virginia Memorials, the Pennsylvania and Minnesota Memorials, the High Water Mark, and the National Cemetery. None of my words can do the experience any justice. If you have not been and you are able, I encourage you to go for a weekend visit. Thanks to Gettysburg for a wonderful visit. I have gotten some great research inspiration out of this trip.