At Gettysburg, history or propaganda? (Libs Complain about Gadsden Flag)

The Evening Sun (Hanover, PA) ^ | June 22, 2012 | Tim Prudente

[Timber Rattler]

The name might not be recognizable, but you've probably seen a Gadsden flag, typically yellow with a coiled rattlesnake and the warning "Don't tread on me."

The flag was flown by colonists rebelling against British rule. And more recently, it's become the adopted symbol of the Tea parties and conservative Republicans, prompting questions as to whether it's an appropriate theme for merchandise sold at the Gettysburg battlefield bookstore.

There shoppers will find Gadsden flag shot glasses, mugs, magnets and pins. The souvenirs are the only items representing the Revolutionary War sold in the bookstore, said an employee. Mostly, the store offers merchandise that speaks to historic events a century later.

"It isn't sold in a historically relevant context," said Paul Gioni, a battlefield enthusiast from Mahwah, N.J., who contacted the National Park Service and The Evening Sun after visiting the park recently. "This is blatantly political merchandise."

[4yearlurker]

We usually get out to Gettysburg a few times a year. I enjoy a early Fall ride down the Lincoln Highway. I really miss the old museum that was directly across the street from the national Cemetery. That has been razed. I hear they wanted to raze the round concrete structure that used to house the cyclorama painting. That is now on the second floor of the new museum which is a money grubbing tourist trap. The battlefields are still the same and mostly quiet. Except when they bring in bus loads of tourists who let their little monster kids run wild. I look at my wife and say: “Lets go” and we head to The Springhouse.

[MrB]

Here’s a more subtle reason that it irks them.

They don’t want to admit that they want to tread on me,
and they definitely don’t want to be accused of it -

it harshes their “I’m a good person” buzz.

[Salamander]

I haven’t been inside of any of the park’s museums or displays since the 70s.

Did you ever get to see the one that had various scenes in a darkened theater pit that were lit up in order, along with really bad animatronics?

That was a hoot.

I slink around the less traveled places and sit on the rocks just because it’s peaceful to do so.

It’s gotten much harder to take ‘dramatic photos’ due to the aforementioned monster kids running wild.

I’m still bummed about the observation tower.

That ‘eyesore’ was fun.

:)

For the last several years, I’ve only gotten up there for Bike Week and there’s never time to go see something *I* might be interested in....:-\

[or to get snake food from my supplier and you really can’t sight-see very long with 15 pounds of frozen rats in your car]

[4yearlurker]

Yes I believe the theater pit scene is the President’s Wax Museum from the 1960s. I went in there once when my kids were younger. They were all wide eyed watching the battle scenes light up. About 6 years ago I went to Gettysburg around Halloween. Big Mistake. Downtown was a huge clusterf#@* with those stupid ghost tours. In the circle in the center of Gettysburg is the building were Lincoln stayed when he gave the Gettysburg Address. He gave a short speech to a crowd gathered below in the street from a second story window. That building used to be privately owned. It now belongs to the Feds

[x]

We actually had one of those -- bought as kids in a national park.

I think we also had a little Confederate flag, also bought in a national park when we kids.

I'd just assume that they were part of our national history -- and family history.

Political meanings and symbolism come and go. The past remains.

Or maybe not. Anyway, what happened years ago happened, regardless of contemporary political symbolism.