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Civil War tourism
Do many people visit Gettysburg PA each year?
I suppose the town thrives on tourism. What would it be without it? |
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Civil War tourism
In rec.travel.usa-canada wrote:
Do many people visit Gettysburg PA each year? I suppose the town thrives on tourism. What would it be without it? Williamsport. -- Julie ********** Check out the blog of my 9 week Germany adventure at www.blurty.com/users/jholm Check out my Travel Pages (non-commercial) at http://www.dragonsholm.org/travel.htm |
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Civil War tourism
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Civil War tourism
wrote in message ups.com... wrote: Do many people visit Gettysburg PA each year? I suppose the town thrives on tourism. What would it be without it? Quiet? Quite honestly, it is a difficult question to answer since the restrictions in and around the battlefield and town are just severe enough prevent many kinds of more "normal" development. But agriculture is the most likely answer. I don't think they are that severe, or at least no more severe than any other government park. It has been about 10 years since I've been there. When there, I walked the course of Pickett Charge. After reaching the "copse of trees" I turned left, walked a little distance and had lunch at the KFC. I understand they tore down the steel tower that overlooked the field a few years ago. Everyone bitched about it, but I must admit my guilt; I did scale the thing, to get a panoramic view. It seems like I'm constantly getting mail (post office) from conservators who warn of various commercial enterprises wanting to build near the park. Apparently businesses are still trying. Del |
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Civil War tourism
$Scumbags are trying to get approval to build casinos in Gettysburg!
"Delbert Stanley" wrote in message nk.net... wrote in message ups.com... wrote: Do many people visit Gettysburg PA each year? I suppose the town thrives on tourism. What would it be without it? Quiet? Quite honestly, it is a difficult question to answer since the restrictions in and around the battlefield and town are just severe enough prevent many kinds of more "normal" development. But agriculture is the most likely answer. I don't think they are that severe, or at least no more severe than any other government park. It has been about 10 years since I've been there. When there, I walked the course of Pickett Charge. After reaching the "copse of trees" I turned left, walked a little distance and had lunch at the KFC. I understand they tore down the steel tower that overlooked the field a few years ago. Everyone bitched about it, but I must admit my guilt; I did scale the thing, to get a panoramic view. It seems like I'm constantly getting mail (post office) from conservators who warn of various commercial enterprises wanting to build near the park. Apparently businesses are still trying. Del |
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Civil War tourism
"Bad Jim" wrote in message .com... On Tue, 20 Dec 2005 13:33:43 -0500, wrote (in article .com): Just down the road (well, maybe an hour's drive) is Sharpesburg which is very much in it's original condition and usually not crowded. I think the descendants of the people who owned the cornfield still live there and the farms are still being worked. It is particularly peaceful and moving in the evenings. The visitor's center is spartan and I don't think there is any commercialism in the town itself. I don't even think there is a McDonalds for 10 miles :-) Yes, there is a mid 19th century feel about the place. One seems to be transported back in time there. Sunrise, and sunset are especially pleasing and suggest a feeling of melancholy. I always play "Ashokan Farewell," the main soundtrack theme to the PBS' "The Civil War" when I'm driving around the park. Shiloh has some of the same feel about it too. Based on some accounts of the battle I always thought the visitor center was right in the middle of some of the heaviest casualties. When there I often wondered how many died beneath this very building. Perhaps it is some form of eerie fascination I have, but I like to walk the very fields where so many casualties took place. Like doing Pickett's Charge walk at Gettysburg, and the charge at Marye's Heights at Fredericksburg, I walked the Sunken Road. I thought it was too sunken (artificially). I'm 6'0'', and it seems well over my head in many places to have been dug mainly by wagon wheels. It was more like trench warfare. I understand that over time the ruts could fill, and perhaps the Park Service may do a little digging, but I was quite suprised by the depths. Perhaps they are indeed accurate, I don't know. Do the PS actually re-dig trenches if they become too filled? Some trenches at other parks seem barely visible, so I don't know what the policy is. When I was last there in 1997 on the135th anniversary of the battle (which was reenacted on a nearby farm) I heard that they were going to replant the corn in the fields adjacent to the visitor center as it was in '62. Did they? My favorite side trip is Harper's Ferry. It is a breathtakingly beautiful place and if you stay in the town, you have it to yourself in the evenings since the park closes at 5 pm. You can bike on the C&O Canal Tow Path from there up to Shepardstown and from there to Sharpesburg. You can even bike down to DC if you are so inclined. Yes, it is a beautiful place and yes they have their share of wax museums, etc. My impression is that the Civil War is perceived as an unpleasant anachronism in today's political climate and difficult to discuss without mentioning the C-word, so it's better off forgotten. As a result, the budget to maintain these parks is dwindling and most of them I have visited are in disrepair and being encroached by development. Want to have some fun sometime, try to find Ball's Bluff :-) It's in the back yard of some apartment complex. When you find it, then you can look for Chantilly, or Yellow Tavern or..... Del Shoot one man in the back, you're a coward Shoot one hundred thousand in the back you're a military genius. |
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