TEXAS STRONG

Wednesday August 30 – We would like to thank all our family and friends for your emails, phone calls and texts. As we write this post, Carrie is finally able to get back to Houston. She actually just texted to say she has to report to work tomorrow. She lives and works in downtown Houston. Her apartment complex has electric but no water. She is one of the very lucky ones!

We are all so blessed not to have to endure this terrible natural disaster. We have seen on TV so many incredible tales of one human being helping another. America is great, and it is being proven over and over in Texas. Pray along with us for all of Texas. Stay Texas Strong.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day….and count your blessings!

SOLDIERS’ NATIONAL CEMETERY

Monday, August 21 –  After a great ride around the area where day one of the Gettysburg battle occurred, we returned to our campground for a break and for a little dinner. We had one more area we wanted to see. The Soldiers’ National Cemetery had a free 45-minute guided tour entitled “Four Score and Seven Years Ago: Lincoln and the Soldiers’ National Cemetery.” We visited the site of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and explored the Soldiers’ National Cemetery where over 3,500 soldiers killed in the battle were laid to rest. All of the soldiers are Union except for eight that are Confederate. Another great event. Our guide shared so many wonderful tidbits about the Cemetery. Stories we would have never heard if we hadn’t taken this walking tour.

Soldiers’ National Monument is the first grand memorial in the cemetery.

At the base of the Monument are figures representing War, History, Peace and Plenty.

New York State Monument.

It is said that the lady at the top has a tear running down her cheek.

Ohio Monument under a Buckeye tree.

In addition to those Union soldiers who died in the Battle of Gettysburg, it is a National Cemetery with military casualties sections containing individuals who served from the Spanish-American War to the early years of the Vietnam War.

The tour ended at the Soldiers’ National Monument in the cemetery, and the playing of taps by a military bugler. A very moving end to a fabulous day in Gettysburg.

We have much more to see and do so check back for our report.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

DAY 1 IN THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

Monday, August 21 – To continue our previous blog……..We took a break after spending the morning at the Gettysburg Military Museum and since we were only minutes from our campsite, we drove home for a light lunch. With temperatures expected to reach the 90's this afternoon, we soon headed back out to do the driving tour on the northern part of the battlefield. This is the area where the battle began on July 1, 1863. Again, we were very impressed with the area. The movie and cyclorama had done a wonderful job preparing us for the tour and we felt we understood this area of the battlefield quite well.

Day one of the  battle was on Seminary Ridge, McPherson Ridge and Oak Ridge.  There many outstanding statues in this area.

The field behind General Buford is where the first battle took place.

Major General Reynolds

Looking out over the battlefield. The road you see was there and all the fences and rock walls are in the original place when the battles took place. Most of the walls and fences are still the original.

The remaining photos show some of the beautiful statues here in this part of the battlefield.

This unit lost their best friend in the first battle.

On the side of each statue is a list of the battles that unit fought in.

The Peace Memorial with the eternal flame on top.

On top of a Pennsylvania statue.

Marsha’s maiden name is Wadsworth. We happen to find one of her name-sakes, Major General James Samuel Wadsworth. He fought in the battle all three days for New York.

3” cannons used on the battlefield.

The first day of the Battle at Gettysburg was basically centered in this one area. We move on to Day 2 tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

 

GETTYSBURG BATTLEFIELD MUSEUM

Monday, August 21 – We were at the Gettysburg Battlefield Museum this morning by 8:45 to see the movie as an introduction to the historical Battle of Gettysburg. The movie was excellent.

After the movie, we then moved to the Cyclorama. (The following is taken from the Internet.) Cycloramas were a very popular form of entertainment in the late 1800's, both in America and Europe.  During the 1800's, most were lost or destroyed as their popularity died out with the introduction of a more entertaining art form, motion pictures. The "Battle of Gettysburg" Cyclorama at Gettysburg National Military Park is one that has survived. The culmination of the battle was captured on canvas by the French artist Paul Philippoteaux. The "Cyclorama of the Battle of Gettysburg" opened to the public in Chicago in 1883, complete with a three-dimensional earthen foreground littered with the relics of battle, stone walls, shattered trees and broken fences. Purchased by the National Park Service in the late 1940's, the painting was moved to the newly constructed park visitor center in 1962. The artistic work underwent a massive restoration project that required hours of hand labor to repair water damaged portions of the painting and two large sections faded by years of direct sunlight. The Gettysburg Cyclorama is 377 feet long, 42 feet high and weighs 12.5 tons.

There is no way to tell in the photo below where the foreground sand ends and the the painting begins. If you look at the three poles around the well, the front pole is real and leaning against the wall of the painting. We didn’t even know that the pole in the front was real until our guide pointed it out. The foreground fence is also real and blends right into the painting flawlessly. It is just amazing.

The movie and the Cyclorama both come highly recommended, and we certainly agree with that assessment. We absolutely loved them both, but the Cyclorama is AWESOME! What a magnificent way to familiarize ourselves about the three-day Battle of Gettysburg.

We then moved to the museum where we spent the rest of the morning. The museum is fabulous and Paul, a non-museum kind-of-guy, actually spent the entire morning with Marsha and truly enjoyed the museum. There are thousands of displays and dozens of videos to help us understand the enormous significance of the Battle of Gettysburg. This is one of the best museums we have visited! We will show some highlights in photos we took. We won’t show you the entire 175 pictures the Marsha took….hehe.

Ignore the feet in the next photo…lol

We learned so many fascinating facts like the next two.

There was an excellent display showing each state that fought in the Civil War and an estimate of how many soldiers came from each state. Just a few facts.

Ohio…313,180 Union Enlistments
Texas…2,012 Union Enlistments; 86,702 Confederate Enlistments
New York had the most of all states….338,850 Union Enlistments

If you don’t know what an Army is, here is a good explanation.

We will never be able to keep up posting each day. This was just what we did in the morning of day one. There is so much to see and do here. We are just going to enjoy our time and post as we can.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day.

 

HISTORICAL GETTYSBURG, PA.

Sunday, August 20 – We headed out this morning under a cloud of fog toward Gettysburg, PA. We chose a southern route through West Virginia and Maryland instead of the shorter route through Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania route was via the PA Turnpike which meant a hefty toll. The route we chose was a beautiful way to travel on the busy Eastern part of the United States. We were amazed how much mountain driving was required. Admittedly, the Appalachian Mountains are nothing compared to the Rockies, but we sure did some steep up and down driving today.

This was along the the highway today. What a hoot.

We arrived in Gettysburg by mid-afternoon without any problems with either the truck or 5^th wheel, which is certainly a plus. We are staying at Artillery Ridge Campground which is located right on the edge of the historical Gettysburg battlefields. This is a Passport America park Monday-Thursday. The campground is fairly large. It has a couple of different areas. We are in the back by the horse stables. We have a FHU, pull-through site with 50 amp electric. We requested a site suitable for our satellite. We are in a very open area. The roads and sites are gravel but needing freshened-up with additional gravel. The sites aren't very level. There are picnic tables at each site but are pretty close to your neighbors and have no landscaping. It's all about location when choosing this park over several others in the area since it is located adjacent to the historic battlefields. Also, one of the perks of staying at this campground is by staying 2+ days, we received free tickets to the Gettysburg Diorama, Spirit of Gettysburg, and Lincoln Train Museum. That saves us a ton of money.

Site 427

Looking right.

Looking left.

After getting settled in our site, we headed to the battlefield Visitor's Center about one mile down the road. We strolled through the store and purchased tickets for the movie, museum, and the cyclorama, which we will see tomorrow morning. You need to reserve a time for the tickets. Since we like to get an early start, we chose 9:00 a.m.

Marsha’s best friend was waiting for her at the front door.

We then drove to downtown Gettysburg to check things out and get the lay of the land. We stopped at the famous Dobbin House Tavern for happy hour and enjoyed a couple adult beverages. We opted to have our drinks in the Springhouse Tavern. It is amazing. It is an eating and drinking alehouse amidst three natural springs and two glowing fireplaces. Built in 1776, it has reasonably priced drinks. Although we didn't eat dinner, we were told the food is great.

We sat at the original bar.

We then headed back to the campground for dinner and to rest up for the next couple days of sightseeing. Stop back and enjoy historical Gettysburg with us.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!