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Gettysburg By Nancy and Richard Woodworth There are two aspects to Gettysburg, the small town that embraces the decisive battlefield of the Civil War. One side is the tourist trappings that draw 2.5 million visitors annually and threaten to out-Niagara the Niagara Falls scene in the annals of tourism. The other is the rural tranquillity and sense of history that prompted Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower to make a Gettysburg farm their first and only permanent home. The two aspects manage to co-exist quite nicely, thanks in part to a semi-rural location and to the tenure of the National Park Service. Sure, there are incursions that should not demean such hallowed ground: the domineering National Tower, the Civil War Wax Museum, the countless ancillary attractions ranging from war stores to a family fun center to a General Lee's Family Restaurant. Even the commercialism of the National Park Service's electric map and cyclorama programs is jarring. Not a particularly distinguished-looking town, Gettysburg gets downright tacky in places. Yet there also are the treasures: the 1,432 monuments and markers that dot the rolling hills of the vast battlefield and cause Civil War buffs to choke up, the site of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, the Eisenhower Farm full of poignant memories, the stately brick Gettysburg College campus, the rural byways that lead to all kinds of pleasures and discoveries. The composite makes Gettysburg a classic middle American tourist destination, just as the Eisenhowers were the classic middle American couple of the post-World War II era. The epic 1994 movie and mini-series on "Gettysburg," adapted from the Michael Shaara novel Killer Angels and shown on Ted Turner’s TV network, cast the town in the national spotlight and gave it a banner year for tourism. Despite all its history, the inns and B&Bs of the modern idiom came late to a Gettysburg where high-rise motels were the rule. The first B&B emerged only in 1984. Many have followed, in town and in the surrounding countryside, especially to the south and east – the part of the area that we feature here. They make a choice base for experiencing the best that Gettysburg has to offer. Material excerpted from Inn Spots & Special Places / Mid-Atlantic, by Nancy and Richard Woodworth. Copyright 2003. Wood Pond Press E-mail feedback to: Home
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