Gettysburg
In the summer of 2004 I took a trip with two friends of mine to Washington D.C. I had never been and was excited to see our nation's capital. We drove straight through from Chicago in shifts. Of the three of us, I'm the late night guy so I had the worst shift, 12AM to 4AM. As the sun began to rise over the mountains of western Pennsylvania, I climbed into the back seat of our rented Caddy and fell asleep.
When I awoke we were on a two lane road in a rural place. We clearly weren't in D.C. although based on the time we should have been. I poked my head into the front of the car (clearly violating my back seat status) and asked where we were. While I slept my friends had decided to detour to Gettysburg. None of us had been to the battle site before.
We arrive before the park opened so we grabbed some breakfast at a local joint. Then we headed over to the park. There was a welcoming center / museum that we walked through before taking the tour of the military cemetary. If my memory servers there are no marked Confederate graves at Gettysburg since it was a Northern victory site.
I had never suspected that touring a war site would mean much to me. Yes the cemetary and all the grave markers is humbling. But the actual battle field???
As it turns out it was one of the greatest places I think I have ever visited. I can't speak to other war site but Gettysburg, the attending park rangers, and the museum sites convey the actual scale and destruction of the battle. I left feeling like I actually had a semblance of an understanding of what happened. Understanding the scale was what really hit home. We visited one display that explained the course of the battle. Then atop the building with the display there was an observation deck with pointers towards the significant points. Seeing a hill over a mile away where the first cannon shots were made brought it home.
I was humbled in a way I don't think I have ever been before.
After our visit I learned that developers were trying to build expensive hotels and casinos in Gettysburg. Today, news is that the developers were turned down for the casinos which would have been the economic engine of the development.
This is today's good news!!!
When I awoke we were on a two lane road in a rural place. We clearly weren't in D.C. although based on the time we should have been. I poked my head into the front of the car (clearly violating my back seat status) and asked where we were. While I slept my friends had decided to detour to Gettysburg. None of us had been to the battle site before.
We arrive before the park opened so we grabbed some breakfast at a local joint. Then we headed over to the park. There was a welcoming center / museum that we walked through before taking the tour of the military cemetary. If my memory servers there are no marked Confederate graves at Gettysburg since it was a Northern victory site.
I had never suspected that touring a war site would mean much to me. Yes the cemetary and all the grave markers is humbling. But the actual battle field???
As it turns out it was one of the greatest places I think I have ever visited. I can't speak to other war site but Gettysburg, the attending park rangers, and the museum sites convey the actual scale and destruction of the battle. I left feeling like I actually had a semblance of an understanding of what happened. Understanding the scale was what really hit home. We visited one display that explained the course of the battle. Then atop the building with the display there was an observation deck with pointers towards the significant points. Seeing a hill over a mile away where the first cannon shots were made brought it home.
I was humbled in a way I don't think I have ever been before.
After our visit I learned that developers were trying to build expensive hotels and casinos in Gettysburg. Today, news is that the developers were turned down for the casinos which would have been the economic engine of the development.
This is today's good news!!!
Labels: Good News
posted by LP Cards Fan at
9:43 PM
1 Comments:
Fantastic post.
And yes, that is GREAT news.
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