G’day!
Am progressively firming up details in preparation for this road trip which includes a visit to the Gettysburg National Military Park. As it turns out, the itinery currently places this visit occurring on 4th July.
So this could be an absolutely humungous experience or a bloody long day spent in long queues trying to get line of sight on anything historical.
Can anybody out there in Doperworld provide some insight as to how to achieve the former rather than the latter?
Kind regards
PT
Don’t count on being unopposed if seeking supplies at Gettysburg and secure your departure route back to Virginia. Harper’s Ferry is right out.
The battlefield is big, so a lot of people can be touring it without being crowded. However, if they’re planning special ceremonies, it could put a crowd in one place.
I’d suggest getting a pre-recorded guide to the battlefield and play it on your car radio.
The light rain went on falling on the hills above Gettysburg, but it was only the overture to the great storm to come. Out of the black night it came at last, cold and wild and flooded with lightning. The true rain came in a monster wind, and the storm broke in blackness over the hills and the bloody valley; the sky opened along the ridge and the vast water thundered down, drowning the fires, flooding the red creeks, washing the rocks and the grass and the white bones of the dead, cleansing the earth and soaking it thick and rich with water and wet again with clean cold rainwater, driving the blood deep into the earth, to grow again with the roots toward Heaven.
It rained all that night. The next day was Saturday, the Fourth of July.
– Michael Shaara, The Killer Angels. Last paragraph of the book.
Nine score years ago…almost to the day.
I was of the impression that there are civil war re-enactors who recreate the major battles, but I would expect those to be done on July 1 to 3. Of course, they could do it on the convenient weekend near those dates. July 4 would probably just be fireworks at night. I’m too lazy to look it up online, but there has to be information on what to expect on those dates.
I live a few hours from Gettysburg, and I visited twice over the past few years. The first was a quick tour around the area, following the car route recommended by the tourism people. I saw things, but couldn’t really figure out how all of the areas fit together. So before the second trip, I read a book on the entire battle. That made it much easier to figure out what was going on, when, and where.
I live near Gettysburg, and have taken so many visiting relatives there over the years that I could almost work as a tour guide there.
Generally, a driving tour takes you around the area where the battle first started, down through town where it continued, and finally around the fields south of Gettysburg where the largest part of the battle took place. There are places all around the drive where you can park and get out to look at specific things. When it gets really crowded (like on 4th of July), those small parking areas fill up completely. In areas where there is enough room, people will park along the road once the parking areas are full. Driving around is a lot slower.
The museum gets pretty crowded on July 4th as well.
This is a decent video showing what you can see if you do the driving tour. This was taken on a very non-crowded day, and the parking areas are very empty.
This video shows how much more crowded it is on July 4th.
On the plus side, there are usually a lot of re-enactors around on July 4th.
I forgot to mention that they are doing work around the Little Roundtop area. I believe parts of that area are currently closed to the public. They are expanding parking and fixing issues caused by erosion and such.
Also, the museum is located in between two main roads (Baltimore Pike and Taneytown Road). They have been doing work on Taneytown Road. I don’t know if it will be open by July or not. You can still get to the museum from Baltimore Pike, but on a busy day like July 4 there may be some significant traffic issues.
FYI there are a lot of little but interesting shops along Steinwehr Ave, starting where it forks off from Baltimore Street.
I’d avoid the place on July 4th. Bound to be packed.
Little Round Top was closed off last year for tree cutting/maintenance to “improve the visitor experience”. It was the most meaningful part of my visit years ago, so it might be worth checking to see when visitors will be allowed there again.
July 4th is on a Tuesday this year, so any festivities (fireworks, town festivals, etc.) are likely to take place the weekend prior. If you want a true American experience, nothing beats a small-town 4th of July festival. I high recommend trying to gauge where you’ll be on the weekend prior and seeing what’s going on in the towns where you’ll be.
It’s been years, and it wasn’t near Independence Day, but the last time I went through Gettysburg (the town, not the battlefield) in the summer I remember it taking forever just to get through town due to one roundabout as I had to get back onto US-30 west. I’d expect heavy traffic in town, at the site, at food places and gas stations (and if you’re in a hurry I’d suggest getting both at once at Sheetz), and just patience overall.
I saw this article in the Washington Post about a new museum:
The new museum is called the Gettysburg Beyond the Battle Museum, and there is an option for experiencing a recreation of what it was like for civilians during the battle.
I had to deliver some shit back east a long time ago and thought I’d really like to see Gettysburg if I could. I was going to go right past it…
I passed it, in the rain/snow at about 3 in the morning. Nope.
I’ve got that guy’s book, though.