Antietam National Battlefield the day before was truly an experience, but Gettysburg National Battlefield gave me a dose of the same, and then some. Gettysburg National Battlefield is considered to be the grand daddy of all the National Battlefields of the Civil War. Even it's Visitor Center was larger than any of the other National Battlefields I had previously visited, with it's two levels filled with thousands of artifacts, and Cyclorama Building. The Cyclorama Building is a three-level structure that has a lookout deck where you can see every part of the battlefield. The Visitor Center is located on Cemetary Ridge a few hundred yards from the infamous "Angle" directly in front of the original Gettysburg Cemetary on Cemetary Ridge.
To see the whole battlefield takes a whole day. Like most of the other National Battlefields, you tour the site by automobile, starting out and finishing the tour at the Visitor Center. And believe me, even though you're in a car most of the time, by the end of the tour, you are extremely exhausted and very hungry.
Like Harpers Ferry, there were thousands of people everywhere, especially at Little Roundtop and Devil's Den. Still, because of the massiveness of the battlefield, there were many occasions where I found myself all alone. Little Roundtop and the "Angle" were definitely the coolest places on the whole battlefield. At Little Roundtop, me and the dogs were able to climb around on the rocks and hike through the dense woods.
The "Angle" was definitely one of the coolest part of the day. From its location, you can clearly see the starting point where Picket's Charge began on Seminary Ridge some 500 yards away from Cemetary Ridge. When you come to this spot, you will really come to understand the kind of courage those men had back on that hot summer day of July 3, 1863.
The town of Gettysburg is a cool place. It's a very small peaceful town. The thing I didn't understand was that you can't buy beer at the local corner store. No, one has to go to a "Beer" store to buy beer. I drove all over Gettysburg looking for one of those so called "Beer" store and never found one. Instead, I found a micro-brewery call The Appalachian Brewery Company (ABC). And lucky for me, they sold beer by the bottle. That whole ordeal worked out great, because micro-brewery beer, is way better than Coor's Lite in a bottle any day. Well, almost...maybe...
John! If you're reading this, I save a bottle of ABC for you.
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