The next time you to to Gettysburg, drive to Devil's Den.
In the hot summer, thousands of people visit there. They would climb in the rocks or sit quietly on the hill and ponder the great valley and Little Round Top where the second day of the battle took place.
Now ALMOST ALL the shade trees in Devil's Den have been destroyed. It will be impossible to sit there in the summer in 80-90 degree heat in the burning sun.
It is criminal. There was no good reason on the face of the earth to destroy those trees.
I've been to Gettysburg several times.
Devil's Den is a favortie place of ours to take the kids so they can let out some energy climbing the boulders.
It would be more difficult -as a visitor - to do this on a hot day without any shade.
I've been there, and have sat on Little Round Top and meditated on the events there on several occassions. I have walked up those slopes as the Alabama Regiment did and tried to imagine Col. Chamberlains bayonet charge. I have seen pictures of what the battle scarred slopes with the tops of all of those trees gone leaving jagged trunks scattered everywhere and the sides of that slope looking like some hellish scene. I also know how many trees are there now, and have enjoyed their shade.
I realize that tourists may not be comfortable in the summer sun if the trees are removed, but the combatants were not comfortable either. I'm all for anything that will add to realism.
One could make the argument that experiencing that heat is but a small taste of what those men endured in July 1863.
I can remember walking the whole route of Pickett's Charge as a young boy of 14. I wanted to get a sense of what it was like. I am actually glad there were no trees to shade or obstruct me...like it was for them.
There were no shade trees there in July of 1863! Perhaps you would have them enclose the whole area and erect an air-conditioned pavilion for your "tourists" instead?