Category Archives: Gettysburg

Seminary Ridge Museum

22 Monday Apr 2013

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The Hayfoot was home for an all-too-brief visit this weekend. We intended to go to the New York Botanical Garden yesterday but decided to stay near the house instead. Waking early and getting all the way to the north Bronx just didn’t seem worth it. The weekend was for catching up, and catching our breath after the many changes of the last two months. It was good to hang out with those we care about. One thing we discussed yesterday was the logistics of our annual June trip to Gettysburg. It is going to be a little complicated, but things have a way of falling into place.

Today, as if on cue, I opened the mailbox and found an envelope from the Seminary Museum Museum. This new institution is located on the campus of Gettysburg’s Lutheran Theological Seminary and will open, appropriately enough, on July 1. I remember driving past the old building last year and seeing the renovations underway. They are doing a beautiful job. Unfortunately we will be missing the museum this year, as our visit falls before the battlefield anniversary. I would love to see it, but it is probably just as well; the museum will undoubtedly be a mad house in its opening weeks, which is without question wonderful but a pain for someone averse to crowds. This year in particular we are going to see some of the off-the-beaten-path sites, parts of Culp’s Hill, East Cavalry Field, and the like. (The evolution of why once heavily-visited parts of the battlefield now receive so little interest, and vice versa, is fascinating in and of itself.) The Gettysburg sesquicentennial seems an opportune time to see the more obscure locales.

Maybe if we are lucky we’ll talk friends into going to Gettysburg later in the year, when the crowds will be smaller. Whenever you are planning to go to Gettysburg, make certain to add the Seminary Ridge Museum to your must-see list.

(image by Tyson brothers, courtesy NYPL)

Gettysburg notes

02 Saturday Mar 2013

Posted by in Gettysburg, Heritage tourism, National Park Service

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Demolition of the Gettysburg cyclorama building, March 1, 2013

Demolition of the Gettysburg cyclorama building, March 1, 2013

As you can see, the demolition of the old Visitor Center and Cyclorama building has begun. I imagine all traces of the Mission 66 structure will be gone by the late June when the 150th anniversary gets underway. In other Gettysburg news, Superintendent Kirby announced that the sequestration will not impact the sesquicentennial events thanks to some advance planning and creative juggling. Other National Parks, Civil War and otherwise, have not been so fortunate, with many limiting hours and services during these difficult days.

(image by Matthew Amster, courtesy LA Mag)

Looking to summer

19 Tuesday Feb 2013

Posted by in Gettysburg, Heritage tourism

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McPherson Barn, Gettysburg

McPherson Barn, Gettysburg

The Hayfoot and I started talking earnestly over the weekend about our annual pilgrimage to Gettysburg. Maybe it was the 20 degree February weather that got us thinking about late June. Last night I pulled out the booklet sent to me a few months back by a Civil War preservation group to which I am a member. It will be a busy season at Gettysburg to put it mildly. The Antietam anniversary last September was a huge deal, and this should be even bigger. It is always good seeing people soaking up their history and culture. We were happy to see the packed rooms at the National Portrait Gallery over Presidents Day Weekend. For one thing higher attendance at our museums and national parks means potentially better budgets, or at least fewer cuts. If you don’t stay relevant what have you got? Many of the activities at Gettysburg will be better than others. Some will be thought provoking, and some will be crass. It may surprise you to know that, unlike some, I don’t get too worked about the commercialism at Gettysburg or at any historical site. People have been cashing in on the Battle of Gettysburg since approximately July 4, 1863.

I first visited Gettysburg in July 2008, three months after the opening of the new visitor center, and so have no firsthand knowledge of the town as a tourist site prior to the new clubhouse. I do know that many business owners on Steinwehr Avenue were concerned about tourists finding their way to the commercial strip. These are not unreasonable concerns. The stakes are high, especially during the sesquicentennial. When I was in library school I volunteered in a small history museum that stood on a courthouse square in a small town in Texas. Surrounding the courthouse museum, on all four sides, were a number of restaurants and antique shops. The revenue they generated for the town in tourists dollars was considerable. What does 2013 mean for Gettysburg? The Hanover (PA) Evening Sun offers some insight.

Cyclorama building coming down

12 Saturday Jan 2013

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I am a little late getting to this one because I’m still catching up after vacation, but the Park Service announced this week that they will indeed be tearing down the old cyclorama building and visitor center. I have been following this story with great interest for some time now, and cannot tell you how relieved I am that they made the decision they did. The old building will probably be razed in time for the sesquicentennial this coming July. Perhaps it is a little too easy for me to say because the old building was never part of my personal Gettysburg experience–I visited for the first time in 2008 a few months after the new VC opened–but the Mission 66 structure never worked functionally or aesthetically. For one thing the air conditioning unit was directly behind the painting, blowing dirt and dust into the art work; for another the panels of the 12 1/2 ton cyclorama hung unevenly, causing further damage. The old building will always be part of the story of Gettysburg National Military Park, especially for the generation that came of age during the centennial. One of my best friends fondly recalls visiting from New Jersey as part of a field trip in the early 1970s. These are no small things; preserving and interpreting our culture are why out national parks and monuments exist in the first place. Still, we create new traditions each time we visit Gettysburg. This is what keeps it meaningful and alive. I am looking forward to seeing what the powers-that-be do with the land upon which the old building currently stands.

In a somewhat related story GNMP is taking advantage of the slower winter months to clean the cyclorama painting itself. The public is invited to watch the process, which is being undertaken from 8:00-5:00 Monday-Friday through February 1. Shelby Foote once famously said that one should visit the Civil War parks at the time of year during which the battle took place (Shiloh in spring, Fredericksburg in December, etc) to best understand what took place. This makes sense on one level, but I disagree. The history of the parks–now 150 years old and counting–is part of the story as well. Go when you can and you might be surprised at what you see.

The Trial of Stephen Ambrose

24 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by in Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gettysburg, Historiography, WW2

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Stephen_AmbroseI remember having coffee with a friend from work in 2002 just a few days after the death of Stephen Ambrose. Specifically I was defending Ambrose against the plagiarism charges that had been leveled against him in the later years of his life. Like many I was using the Fame Defense, the notion that when Ambrose evolved from an academic to a popular historian he became careless. The plagiarism, in this argument, was a product of this carelessness. I had taken his post-1994 output (the year his D-Day oral history was released) with a grain of salt anyway. I never thought much of the Greatest Generation tribute books and films; Flags of Our Fathers, Saving Private Ryan, etc. were and are roughly akin to the regimental monuments Civil War veterans built in their own later years: celebrations and tributes to a cohort rapidly moving on. I never thought there was anything wrong with such tributes; it is just that one must see them for what they are. And Ambrose for good and ill was the dean of the genre.

Well, the Fame Defense just became considerably more difficult to mount after reading David Frum’s indictment of Ambrose and his scholarship, including his work prior to the fame and fortune he later acquired. Rule # 1: Don’t fabricate interactions with a sitting or retired President of the United States. People are keeping track–and record–of where they are every day. Ambrose is ultimately hoisted on his own petard. Not a happy story, but one that cannot be ignored.

(image by Jim Wallace for the Smithsonian Institution)

The Hidden Hand in action

22 Saturday Dec 2012

Posted by in Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gettysburg, National Park Service

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One of my favorite places in the city of Gettysburg is Eisenhower’s Farm. I wrote my masters thesis on Eisenhower and know a fair amount about the president and general. Ike’s ties to the town go all the way back to Great War, when the then junior officer trained troops at Gettysburg’s Camp Colt. Many people do not know that one of the primary purposes of the national military parks was–and is–to train American service personnel in military and leadership strategy. Eisenhower trained members of the nascent U.S. Tank Corps at Camp Colt. It was 1917, just four years after the 50th anniversary Blue-Grey reunion.

After the Second World War Ike and Mamie purchased a farm in Gettysburg, from which one gets a spectacular view of Little Round Top. The farm was a staging ground for Pickett’s Charge. Among other things Eisenhower raised prize-winning Angus cattle at his farm, and took the task pretty seriously. He entered his cattle in numerous competitions, often anonymously to avoid favoritism, and won a fair amount of the time. During his White House years Eisenhower used the Gettysburg farm to relax with his family, attend to his gentleman farming, and also–no small thing–charm foreign dignitaries. Eisenhower had formidable interpersonal skills and, for good reason, believed he could win just about anybody over if he could spend time with them in both formal and informal situations. This is where the Angus cattle came in; Ike loved taking other heads-of-state out to the barn to show them his prize-winning bulls, have a photo op, and then discuss world affairs in the tranquil setting once the press had been dispatched. A few who got the hidden hand treatment in such a manner included India’s Jawaharlal Nehru (December 1956), West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer (May 1957), Nehru nemesis Winston Churchill (May 1959, after he left Downing Street), Nikita Khrushchev (September 1959), and Eisenhower nemesis Charles de Gaulle (April 1960), among others.

Gloria Hertley donating sign to the Eisenhower National Historic Site. Note the photograph of Ike and Nehru, partially obscured in the upper right corner above the ranger's head.

Gloria Hertley donating sign to the Eisenhower National Historic Site. Note photograph of Ike and Nehru, partially obscured in the upper right corner.

In a lighter news story, the farm’s heritage became a bit more complete this month when Gloria Hartley, widow of herdsman and farm manager  Bob Hartley, donated the original Eisenhower Farms sign to the National Park Service. Preserving small details of our national heritage such as this is something the Park Service does well.

Bob Hartley with Angus bull at show, Chicago 1961. Note sign in background.

Bob Hartley with Angus bull at show, Chicago 1961. Note sign in background.

(images: top, NPS; bottom, Hanover, PA Evening Sun)

The Maryland Campaign continues

11 Tuesday Sep 2012

Posted by in Antietam, Civil War sesquicentennial, Gettysburg

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Reading is not enough when it comes to understanding the military components of our civil war. One must visit to grasp things more fully. It was not until I visited Antietam for the first time in 2009 that I realized how close it was to Harper’s Ferry, South Mountain, and other places. This changed my whole concept of the fighting in these places, especially in regards to climate, time, and topography. Visiting also taught me that to understand Gettysburg, Antietam, or any other military activity from the war one must understand the campaign, not just one battle from it. However big and dramatic these events were, they are just one piece in a larger context.

So looking forward to seeing the handwritten Emancipation Proclamation the week after next.

Cyclorama Building on the move?, cont’d

23 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by in Gettysburg, National Park Service

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Update: The Park Service has released its environmental assessment of the cyclorama building. There will be a meeting at Gettysburg National Military Park on September 6, 2012 for discussion and public comment.  I hope they can resolve this once and for all. The building has turned into an eyesore. Here is the url: http://parkplanning.nps.gov/cycloramaea.

Original posting (below) August 23, 2011

Authorities at Gettysburg National Military Park announced that they are exploring the feasibility of relocating Richard Neutra’s Cyclorama Building to a less conspicuous location.   This may be the least bad option given the possibility that the Park Service may never be granted the authority to demolish the site.

Gettysburg Cyclorama Building; photo/Don Wiles

I am always sympathetic to the arguments of architectural historians and preservationists that we are losing too much of our cultural heritage.  Every time I walk through the travesty that is the current Penn Station I rue the loss of the magisterial original.  It is fair to argue, too, that Neutra’s Gettysburg building is now itself part of the history of the evolution of the park, part of the Mission 66 project and designed to reflect the stature of the United States during the Cold War and Space Age.  Still, despite the nostalgia that many feel for the building they visited during their youth, the fact remains that the building never worked.  For one thing the Modernist structure sits incongruously atop Ziegler’s Grove on Cemetery Ridge, the site of some of the hardest fighting on Day 3 of the battle.  It was also structurally unsound, leaking frequently, and responsible for a great deal of the damage the Cyclorama incurred in the decades it was housed in the building.  Besides, there are plenty of representative Neutra buildings still standing.

Neutra’s Miller House, Palm Springs; photo/Ilpo’s Sojourn

Whatever happens, a permanent solution to the Cyclorama Building issue will hopefully be forthcoming in the intermediate future.  Stay tuned.

Gettysburg’s Evergreen Cemetery

09 Monday Jul 2012

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Since we returned from Gettysburg late last week people have been asking me what I most enjoyed about the trip. The answer, hands down, was the excursion we made one morning to Evergreen Cemetery. I had of course been to the National Cemetery several times, but until this June I had never been to the town resting place lying adjacent to it. Now that I have, I feel I understand the town and the battle in a way I had not previously. Here are a few photos. Note that all contemporary images were taken in June 2012. A frustrating snafu on my part caused me to program the wrong year in my digital camera. The Hayfoot can attest to how frustrated I was when I discovered my error.

One would have to start with James Gettys, founder of Gettysburg.

John Burns is one of the Battle of Gettysburg’s genuine characters. A veteran of the War of 1812, the aging Burns grabbed his musket and headed toward McPherson’s Ridge when he heard the sound of the guns.

Here he is looking west toward the Chambersburg Pike.

The battle becomes more immediate when one sees the headstones of individuals whose names gave their designations to some of the battle’s most important events. There is no substitute for getting out and seeing where history was made.

Above is another example.

Many of the families are still very much a part of the community. There were numerous plots of easily recognizable family names considerably more recent than these.

The Evergreen Cemetery Gateway

Gettin’ our sesquicentennial on…