Civil War tourism

Do many people visit Gettysburg PA each year?

I suppose the town thrives on tourism. What would it be without it?

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

wrote:
Do many people visit Gettysburg PA each year?

I suppose the town thrives on tourism. What would it be without it?

Just another bad place to buy shoes.

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

$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

"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.