A Year in Gettysburg

Here I am! I'm still alive! You may have started to wonder, but I'm still here.

I've been very busy...yeah, I know that's not a very good excuse, but I hope to explain some of that in this post. But where do I start? I've been absent from here for what. Almost a year? Much too long.

Well, I've gotten more active in some events around Gettysburg. In October I attended the Civil War Trust's event for the Lee Headquarters grand opening. That was exciting. My grandfather and I were able to attend the event, it was a beautiful day (if but a bit chilly), and best of all (drum roll please) I got to meet Garry Adelman! (For those of you who may be new to the blog, Garry Adelman is a historian, Licensed Battlefield Guide and the director of Education for the Civil War Trust. He puts together many of the "In4" videos discussed in some of my articles. I'm kinda obsessed with him.)
Okay, well, I took a selfie with him. Is that a formal introduction? Maybe not....


                                

                                 

What Does an Ebenezer Have in Common with a Monument?

"Monuments and archaeological pieces serve as testimonies of man's greatness and establish a dialogue between civilizations showing the extent to which human beings are linked." Statesman Vicente Fox

"The sanctity of our battlefields, monuments, and veterans institutions is of utmost importance to preserve military history and pay respect to those who fought." Politician Henry Waxman

Monument at Gettysburg Battlefield

Monuments help us remember the past. I don't know about you, but I saw about a dozen of them just driving through town today. And everytime I pass one, I think about what man once stood there, what man fought there, what man fell on that hill and what man never made it home cause he died on that spot.

Okay, so that's a tad bit morbid, but seriously, we have to think about this stuff. 51,000 casualties fell at Gettysburg alone. Now there are 1,328 monuments, markers and memorials to remember those men just in Gettysburg.

GETTysburg! GETTysburg!

 I started wondering the other day if I would have to change my vocabulary to re-enact. Did Americans use contractions? I started fretting that I would mess up and be a bad representative if I spoke like modern day.

Doing some researching, I found that contractions have been around a lot longer than I thought. So they're safe. (Another reassurance is I had forgotten about the word "ain't", a slang contraction for 'am not' or 'is not' and prevalent during this time period.)

We'll never be able to completely explain how they talked in the 19th century, since none of us lived in that time. However, below is a video I just watched that address this topic.

You Might Live in Gettysburg If....

Gettysburg is a unique town to live in. After William Penn received the charter for the beautiful state  of Pennsylvania, many began to settle inside this land of religious freedom. Many came together in the South-central Pennsylvania countryside, and in 1761, Samuel Gettys began a tavern there. Gettysburg was made into a town in 1786 by Gettys' son, James. Now it is best known for the Civil War's most famous 'Battle of Gettysburg' in 1863. Reenactments happen every year to commemorate that battle, but those that live around Gettysburg know what its really like when tourists aren't around. We that live in Gettysburg believe it to be much more than just a tourists' attraction. 

With some help, I've compiled a list of things that make Gettysburg truly unique as a town. If you live around here or in a surrounding county, you can definitely relate or have at least heard of some of these....

You Might Live in Gettysburg If....

Slavery, or Something More?

What does this flag truly represent?

Lost on Veteran's Day Weekend

The young girl stared at the map. She’d been on the Gettysburg battlefield before, but she knew this time they were lost.

She and her grandfather only wanted to find Hancock Avenue, get past the Pennsylvania Monument, and find where a road intersected with that same avenue. Easy enough task, right? Well, she was finding it to be very difficult. They had found a parking spot at the Soldiers’ National Cemetery, but now they had to walk to find the correct path.