3rd Day of War at Gettysburg

Sunday, our last full day at Gettysburg before we head to the DC area, we took the last part of the audio tour. It was later in the day as we had rain last night and was drizzly most of the day,




                                                                            The High Water mark refers to the deepest penetration by the Confederate States Army of the Union Army lines during Pickett's Charge of the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. It is also refers to the location at Cemetary Ridge at Gettysburg.

                                                                           

Home of Abraham Bryan

Abraham Bryan was one of an unique group of farmers who were free black men who also owned property. He left his property during the war and it was occupied by the Union and was almost completely distroyed. He rebuilt it after the war.

Visting the Military Park at Gettysburg was a wonderful experience. This is one of the reasons we travel this country of ours.
We decided to see a different side of Gettysburg and go to the Farnsworth House Inn.  It was built in 1810 and added onto in 1933. There are still 100 bullot holes from the Civil War. It is now a Bed and Breakfast and Restaurant. We both had game pie. It is similiar to a pot pie and included  turkey, pleasant and duck along with mushrooms and wild rice.
All the wait staff wore period custumes. Below are some of pictures below are other buildings in the area.

                                                                                                              
                                                                      

Food and Wine Festival in Gettysburg

Saturday, we headed to the Gettysburg Wine and Music Festival.  It was in a empty field near a Movie Theater complex. It is the 6th annual festival here in Gettysburg. There were around 20 wineries participating. The tickets to get in included a wine glass and free tastings of any of the wines. It seemed there were a lot of sweet wines, more than we have seen at other wine festivals. Some were pretty good, such as a blueberry wine and also one called pinot colada that yes tasted like a pina colada. Would be good as dessert wines. They also had food, of course, such as crepes to crab cakes to gyros. The first group was a Beatles tribute band called the Resistors. They were pretty good. It was a little hot as there was no shade anywhere. Also we didn't bring chairs and so you had to sit on the ground if you didn't want to stand the whole time you were there and so we only stayed for a few hours. It was fun though.

Some of the smart people who brought chairs

                                                                             

Gettysburg Day Two

Friday afternoon we took the second part of our audio tour to the National Military Park, which is within a few miles from where we are staying by the way. First Here are some pictures of the horses in our campground

The second day is just as interesting. There are more than 1,400 monuments and and markers that take the place of those fallen soldiers as a reminder to the national of its most trying time in history. And of course it was a place of renewed hope , where President Lincoln gave his famous speech, the Gettysburg Address.

General Robert E. Lee

Pennsylvania Memorial


Over 3 million vistors each year come to this hallowed ground to discover what an important part of America's history took place here.

                                                                               

Gettysburg

On Wednesday we arrived at Artillery Ridge Campground and National Riding Stables. It is an interesting campground as campers can bring their horses.

Site right across from ours

They have stables and corral for the horses as well.

We are in a back area that is nice and quiet.
Thursday, we went over to the Gettysburg vistor center. We decided to buy an audio tour, which has 2 cds and a book with map. This way we can just drive in our car to tour the battlefield area instead of taking a bus tour. There are a number of set stops where you can park and listen to the corresponding information on the cds that give information on the particular area and its part in the 3 day battle here.The Battle of Gettysburg was a turning point in the Civil War, the Union victory in the summer of 1863 that ended General Robert E. Lee's second and most ambitious invasion of the North.  It is hard to image looking at this beautiful area that  it was the war's bloodiest battle with 51,000 casualties in only 3 days, more than all the years in the war in Vietnam!! At each stop after listening to the cd, we got and walked around the area taking some pictures and taking in the views. It is an amazing place.

As there are 3 days in the battle, we decided to split the auto tour into three days as well. We did some grocery shopping in town and then made our way back home for a relaxing evening.