We had a lovely long weekend getaway in Gettysburg, PA. It’s only about a 3 hour drive from our northern NJ home, but it was lovely to go on an affordable vacation that included many of our favorite things. My boyfriend and I both enjoy history (I prefer the cultural aspects of daily living and the scary old fashioned medical practices and he enjoys learning about the battles and war plans), we’re avid hikers, and we both are fascinated by ghosts. We didn’t end up having a chance to go horseback riding because we were so busy hiking, sightseeing, shopping, and ghost hunting, but there is always next time (and we can also go horseback riding here at home … there is a ranch about 2 miles up the road from us).
The weather was beautiful – high 70s to low 80s, sunny, and low humidity. The nights were cool, but during the day it was shorts and t-shirts all the way. Bliss!
These are a few of the historic farm houses, the Codori and my personal favorite, the Spangler House (which I can never spell right the first time I type it … I’m sure you know what I end up writing instead).
I knocked at Abraham Brian’s farmhouse to see if anyone … or anything … would greet me at the door, but no one was home.
We toured the Gettysburg National Park Museum to get out of the sun for a little bit. My one purchase at the gift shop? Candy! Ammo candy. I recommend the musket balls.
While this was indeed a mostly vanilla vacation, here is a fun little spanking picture for you. My boyfriend spotted this statue and said I should hop up on this gentleman’s knee because he looked ready to administer a firm spanking. I was a little nervous because there were other visitor touring nearby, but it was too good an opportunity to pass up … and after watching another couple taking photos doing some rather interesting things with one of the cannons nearby, I felt better about posing for this picture.
The next day we did a lot more hiking. This is a shot of my little round bottom hiking up to Big Round Top.
And this is the view from Little Round Top of Devil’s Den. We had a lot of fun scrambling over, under, and through the huge boulders seen over on the far left.
As I mentioned, we went on a couple of ghost tours. One started at the Farnsworth House which is known as the 7th most haunted inn in the US. This is where I’d like to stay the next time we visit. Notice the marks all along the brickface. Those are bullet holes that remain from the war. The tour continued to various reportedly haunted buildings and fields.
The second night we went on a tour of the old orphanage which was once ruled by a woman that made Orphan Annie’s Miss Hannigan look like a saint. She would lock naughty children in the outhouses (even in the freezing temperatures of February or sweltering heat of August!!!), chain them to the walls of the basement known as the dungeon, and many other awful things. Supposedly spirits of the children still remain trapped there along with the ghost of awful Rosa Carmichael who treated them so poorly.
I didn’t feel or find any evidence of ghosts in the pictures I took in the basement, but there were a ton of orbs present in the nearby fields where the children once played and where soldiers also fell. Now, with all of the trees in bloom, more than likely what I captured was falling pollen, but who can say for certain?
April 21st, 2008 - 6:04 pm
Well my little pixie girl, you and your’s should come up to Cooperstown for one of our meets sometime. TONS of history up here. Lots of fun places to hike and a very beautiful area. Love to have you up!
April 21st, 2008 - 6:36 pm
Hi
I love statue picture. your lucky school groups are finishing up school. I would love to hear teachers trying to explane that one
April 21st, 2008 - 9:41 pm
Hi Pixie,
Glad you had a wonderful time..and great pix! I always love your narrative travelogues and accompanying wonderful imagery
I’m into hiking too, and I must admit, you are my dream hiker…cuz what to do with so many fallen logs in the middle of secluded hiking trails?
Peace2u,
Dave
April 22nd, 2008 - 12:48 am
Sounds like a fun weekend. History wise I think I side with your BF but then I have to, I live on an old battlefield, haven’t seen any ghosts yet.
Prefectdt
April 22nd, 2008 - 3:04 am
Dear Pixie,
Great pictures, and it sounds like a fascinating and wonderful weekend. I would have enjoyed the ghost tours.
I have to admit, though, in spite of all the history surrounding you, my favorite picture is of your little round bottom….
Dr. Ken
April 22nd, 2008 - 9:48 am
Sounds like fun, esp the ghost tour. I love those! Somehow finding orbs in your digital camera photos makes the site seem extra extra creepy!
April 22nd, 2008 - 11:40 am
Pixie,
Did you get to attend one of the Ranger talks on battlefield medicine during the war (or as we in the South refer to it, “the late unpleasantness” {grin}). I attended one several years ago and throughly enjoyed it.
(Blue) Mark
April 22nd, 2008 - 12:14 pm
Pixie,
Glad you had a great time. Wonderful pictures! I love driving around and taking pictures of older buildings, landscapes and such while I’m out hiking too.
I’d have to side with you BF as well. I enjoy military history, strategy, etc. We live not far from Stones river which was the sight of a major battle that took place just south of Nashville.
Never been to Gettysburg, but would love to make that trip. We have my Wife’s family Bible which has an entry for a birth around the time of the battle. They lived in Gettysburg at the time. My father-in-law also has bullets removed from a tree on the property as well as an ammo patch from the actual battle. Sorry…no sweet items in there.
Javi
April 22nd, 2008 - 6:33 pm
Enjoyed the pics, Pixie. Thank you.
We’re fortunate that the battlefield and surrounding area was preserved intact almost immediately, so succeeding generations can get a good idea how it appeared to those who fought for their lives there. There was a skirmish site at the end of the street I lived on as a kid, where Northern troops landed briefly. At the time, it was like a small Fangorn Forest in a swamp, just as it had been in 1864. A few years later, it was dredged, filled and had condos on it, with only a barely legible plaque beside the busy highway to mark the struggle and deaths of those men.
While in my early teens, I found a long-forgotten (and based on the town’s website, evidently still-unknown) graveyard in the L.I. whaling village that was my other home. The 30 or so graves dated back to 1642, and were just yards from passing traffic. To touch the engraving on those stones, carved not by detached professionals but with love by grieving family, was like an emotional conduit connecting me to people who had been forgotten for centuries.
April 22nd, 2008 - 7:40 pm
Poppa Mark – I always thought of Cooperstown as primarily being about the history of baseball. Is there more to enjoy there as well?
Duncan – There were a few school groups and boy scout troops there as well, but thankfully they must have all been at the visitors’ center at the time because we had just enough time to squeeze in the photo opp. When we went by the same statue on Saturday, it was a mob scene. We really lucked out.
Dave – Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed my virtual tour. We’d have a lot of fun if we got to hike together. Hike a little, spank a little, hike, hike, hike, spank a lot, hike a little more …
Prefectdt – No ghosties by you? Are you sure?? Muahahaha.
Dr. Ken – Awww. Thanks!!!
2Good – It’s always exciting to find something unexpected in the picture, even if it’s possible to come up with a reasonable explanation for what it might really be.
Mark – No, we didn’t attend any of the guided history tours. I was fascinated by the gruesome photos and crude medical tools used on the battlefield that were on display in the museum though. The one photo I think has forever been burned into my mind.
Javi – What precious bits of history you have in your possession. While it’s no musket ball candy,
those bullets must be something to behold.
Dreams of Horses – Graves from the 1600s?! Wow. I enjoy visiting the oldest cemetary that was within walking distance of my old apartment. They had gravestones there from the 1700s which I thought was pretty impressive. Yes, it’s only like yesterday in comparison to ancient historical sites in other countries, but the local cultural history is what fascinates me. A series of 3 very large markers tell the tale of three adults and a young girl that were murdered in the 1800s a town or two away. The tale behind it all was creepy yet riveting.
April 23rd, 2008 - 7:44 am
It is ironic, I had just watched the DVD of “Gettysburg” the night before reading your posting of your trip. There is a wonderful 1/2 hour documentary on side one (1955, Cinemascope and narrated by a young actor named Leslie Nielson) that I’d recommend if you ever get the chance. The movie itself, a bit over romanticized.
Great Pictures and story! I loved it all and thank you very much.Those farm houses were magnificent. Now I should probably stop because being a chronic military historian I fear a serious twinge of jealousy coming on.
Again, Thanks , , , ,
April 23rd, 2008 - 9:35 am
We love going to Gettsyburg! We were there just last summer, and are planning another excursion this summer. Never thought about laying across the lap of the statues though, that was too cute. My boyfriend is a Civil War buff & just can’t get enough of it’s history….thanks for sharing!
April 23rd, 2008 - 10:58 am
Hey Darlin’,
Another thought. While Gettysburg was the biggest battle of that war and the bloodiest 3 days in our history, it was hardly the most crucial battle – even of its day. A more decisive moment was at the same time, at Vicksburg.
In my opinion, a vastly more important engagement in this nations history happened much earlier – right in your home state. Have you ever been to a place called Trenton? Although not on the scale of what occurred where you just were, when one considers what Washington’s force had just endured at Valley Forge, how bad a shape they were in physically, the fact that the enlistments of most of his soldiers would expire if he couldn’t present the governing delegates with some kind of success, that he was seriously out-numbered by some of the toughest, MEANEST mercenaries in the British command, well, that might give you an idea of the odds he faced. That Washington gambled with those stakes – and won as dazzlingly as he did is an epic by any standard I can imagine. Had they failed, we could not ever have become the country we are now.
April 24th, 2008 - 11:34 am
I’m about 30 miles from Gettysburg down in Maryland and frequently go up there. Too bad I wasn’t there when you were; probably would have recognized you. I’ll have to pay more attention to that statue next time! (I can’t recall who it is). By the way, were you supposed to be climbing on that statue? Maybe a spanking was in order anyway!
April 25th, 2008 - 5:45 am
Hey little lady! I love the pics, I took some pics with some statues recently too! Fun fun. I miss ya! Glad you are outdoors and enjoying the SPRING weather! xoxo
– Sierra Salem
May 2nd, 2008 - 10:04 am
Amber I sent you an e-mail explaiing what there is in Cooperstown to see and do. I think you’d like it.
I used your *****@****** email.
Let me know if you get the e-mail.