find and take the helicopter ride... it's worth it to see it from the air to and get a better perspective of what the lay of the land is likeYou can spend all day in the museum alone. Watch your time. I found the tape-guided tour a little too slow. I was anxious to get to Seminary Ridge, to Buford's spot where he first threw out his skirmish lines, to Little Round Top, and, of course, to the "high tide" spot at Cem. Ridge. That takes some time to go to all those spots---you are covering three days' worth of battle.
You need to get there early so you and the Mrs. can find a good spot.
General Pickett's All-U-Can-Eat Buffet is a nice place. Great food,Breakfast, Lunch and dinner. It is located across the street from the main entrance to the battle field.
You can almost hear the battle going on if you think about it hard enough.
1. Get an early start. The park gets VERY crowded after lunch. The crowds are thickest at Little Round Top, Devil's Den and the High Water Mark (near the visitor's center)
2. There used to be a tape and book package that you could buy at the visitors center that would allow you to tour the battlefield in 3-4 hours and get a feel for the history. It is worth it, if you are history buffs.
3. Scenery is nice everywhere, but must-see vistas are found on Seminary ridge north of town (look for the Peace Light memorial) and Little Round Top south of town.
4. Devil's Den (south of town) is small but amazing. The rock formations there would be worth a look without the history.
5. There are several observation towers around. They are all well worth a climb. So are the New York and Pennsylvania monuments (High Water Mark and Little Round Top, respectively), assuming they are open.
6. There used to be a working mid-1800s farm staffed by voulunteers in period costume on the main loop road to the west of Big Round Top. I don't know if it is still there, but it was very cool, especially the blacksmith's shop.
7. There also used to be a year-round "ghost walk" in the town. It was very, very interesting and gave something to do after dinner. There are a bunch of great restaurants on the town square, too.
8. Be prepard for a lot of walking, and bring bottled water or soda.
Things to avoid:
1. Busses. They whip around the park so fast you won't see anything. The park is best seen by car. If you have more time, it is a joy to bike it.
2. Park service bathrooms. They used to be amazingly bad, as were the drinking fountains...scalding water anyone?
3. Souveneir shops. Most of the stuff is junk, and the shops are overpriced and crowded. Find one of the many antique dealers downtown instead. They often have interesting period artifacts.
4. The old "round" visitor's center. It had a circular painting of the battlefield that you used to see advertised on billboards as far away as Harrisburg and Hagerstown. When you actually saw it in person, it was a massive letdown. The museum up the street across from the National Cemetary is worth it, though.
5. The National Cemetary. It's a cemetary. Unless you know someone who is buried there, don't bother. Parking there is hopeless, too.
No offense to Jim Robinson, but don't get a CD, as its (very) easy to get confused about who, when and were things happened (that happened to me last time I was there). If at all possible, hire a guide--either as part of a group tour or if you can afford it, one for your family. The park service has both kinds, and I think even private guides are available.
Don't be surpised to almost feel the vibes of the place...as parts of Gettyburg's battlefield were incredible killing fields. Some have reported camera malfunctions and other unexplainable phenomena in places where men fell so thickly the bodies were nearly on top of each other. I know for myself, if you had dropped me off blindfolded there, I would know it wasn't a normal place.... there's something intangible that makes one sense something very serious happened there.
Good guided tours with in depth type guides and information are well the worth the time and whatever additional expense involved.
When I was there, we didn't have enough time to do it right, and although I enjoyed it very much, when we go again we will do it right. It is an awe inspiring experience to be in the place where these things actually happened. For instance, you will never understand the futility of Pickets charge until you see the ground they had to travel and how far it was.
I have heard that "one on one" type personal tours are available if arrangements are made in advance. You take the guide and go in your own car or his. One guide and your family. I only know one person who did that, but he absolutely raved about the experience.
find and take the helicopter ride... it's worth it to see it from the air to and get a better perspective of what the lay of the land is likeI took my kids to Little Round Top, sat them down and told them the story of Chamberlain and his regiment fighting back the charging confederates and saving the union. (This was actually the year they filmed "Gettysburg" but before it was released. I told them how they ran out of ammunition and their only option was to retreat, whereupon Chamberlain gave the order to fix bayonettes and CHARGE!!!! and we ran down the hill just like those Maine boys. Later, when the movie came out, my daughter gave me a look of awe as that scene unfolded. I think she had assumed I made the whole thing up!
do not attack the center of the line if the round tops are still in yankee hands or if lee refuses to use the calvary to turn the yankee flank.
I can tell you where NOT to eat. I had breakfast once at the Lincoln Diner just north of the center of town. The prices were exhorbent and the food sucked.
Ping
Little Round Top and the position of the Twentieth Maine is one of my favorite locations (I am big Chamberlain fan).
Seminary Ridge is very interesting - see what the men of Pickett's charge were expected to do.
The Battlefield is a must-see. We enjoyed the tape tour in our car because we could spend as much or as little time at each site as we wanted to spend. The 11-year-old will probably like the ghost walk at night, if it isn't too chilly.
If you aren't a history buff I'd recommend watching the movie first, which would give you a good introduction to the battle. Visiting is a moving experience. The leaders, drama, sacrifices, tactical decisions, luck and results make Gettysburg a fascinating study, one of the defining moments in American history.
I've been there, but it was a very long time ago. Or so it seemed to me! When we were living on the East Coast(Maryland), we went to see it on vacation. The most I can remember of Gettysburg(I was 10 or 11 then, now I'm 49), I remember walking around a large statue, or memorial and seeing many graves around it in a large circle.
There may have been more, but I don't remember those. I don't even remember if they had all the displays/tours they have now. Besides that memorial part, I do remember the visitors center. Maybe it was an older one, because I believe they may have replaced it with a larger, more modern one.
I remember reading something, about a young woman being killed there, by the name of Jennie Wade, (I think!). She was engaged to a soldier fighting around there. Anyway, as the story went, she was apparently in this house, where there had been fighting going on around the house.
She was taking some bread out of/or putting it in, the oven in the kitchen, and a bullet sort of ricocheted(sp?)outside, and came into the window, and hit her, killing her. I remember thinking how so very sad it was! But these places we visited were all I remember, besides reading about that poor girl!
Anyway, being familiar with the battle before venturing to various parts of the battlefield is an absolute MUST. Otherwise, it'll just look like hundreds of randomly scattered monuments.
The last time I was at Gettysburg was in 1976...my mom and dad, my husband and myself, and our two small boys, all went back east from Chicago, to honor the BiCentennial...went to Jamestown, Yorktown, Monticello, Ash Lawn, Williamsburg, and of course Gettysburg...
Now we went in the month of May and we were camping in tents(we love camping, hate motels)...being that it was May, the full swing of summer tourists had not yet thronged in, and the campground had only a few campers, so it was really rather quiet...
During the nite, my hubby woke up and nature called, he went to the bathroom...I heard him stirring, and saw him leave...I fell back asleep...the next thing I know, my husband is screaming and telling me to wake up....he said he heard canons going off, and heard men screaming...well, I woke up and heard nothing...but my husband swears, after he came back from the bathroom, got back into his sleeping bag, and was dozing off, all of a sudden he heard all these sounds of battle...canons, gunfire, men screaming...he was really so very upset, and swore, he was awake, not asleep when he heard this...
The next morning my dad asked him to relate what he had heard...he told us, and he was just shaking...my dad just raised one eyebrow, and told my hubby, "You are not the first person to report such things, and you will not be the last"....
Now my hubby is retired military, and afraid of next to nothing....hes a solid down to earth guy, as is my dad, who went through WW11 carrying supplies and picking up the wounded in the Phillipines, Burma, and India...neither one of these men would make up such a thing...
Take this story for what it is worth...Beware the ghosts of Gettysburg....have fun, enjoy the experience, and happy touristing...
If it's still there see the Cyclorama, a large in the round painting of the high point of Pickett's charge. Devil's Den, a rock formation that was fought over, and Little Round Top, where Chamberlain had his moment of glory are also worth seeing. You might also want to do some of the Pennyslvania Dutch stuff further east near Lancaster, too. Some people really like it, though I don't know much about the details.