Civil War cannon & carriage behind stone wall against darkening blue skies with white clouds.
Adams County Historian Talks Civil War and Gettysburg Tourism
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Asia Tabb
Civil War cannon & carriage behind stone wall against darkening blue skies with white clouds.
Aired; November 6th, 2024.
For many, the town of Gettysburg is a travel destination. Gettysburg is built on history and the legacies of those that come before us. Historian Tim Smith with the Adams County Historical Society explained how Gettysburg developed into a commercial entity and how the tourism economy developed over the years.
“After the war ended and a lot of these people who lived here had lost their farms and had no real means of livelihood and livelihood. People opened up hotels and, you know, taverns and restaurants to accommodate the number of tourists. And a lot of people started to collect stuff off of the battlefield and sell those items to tourists. So much to bring about or sort of about how people are picking up stuff like artillery shells or bullets or pieces of weapons or uniforms that were laying on their property, on their farms and selling them to tourists who are coming in to try to make some kind of living. And later, of course, it expands into local people becoming tour guides and really leaning into the tourist industry.”
For those that have never visited Gettysburg, Smith suggests starting with the Battlefield itself. You can pick up a tour map of the battlefield at a kiosk at the National Park Service Visitor’s Center.
“You can get for free and see the place where the battle was fought and the spot where Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address. And then, of course, you know, the Gettysburg Foundation has a wonderful museum at a national military park visitor center. And of course, we have a nice museum here, Gettysburg, Beyond the Battle Museum, and many of these other attractions and museums around town are really interesting to see.”
Smith believes early on, those who lived through the Battle of Gettysburg, that local people there should be some kind of public property where the battle was fought.
“In 1863, a couple of months after the battle, it was local people that first took steps to purchase Little round Top and Culp’s Hill Cemetery Hill. And then as time went by, roads were put in and more and more land was purchased. The local people formed an organization called the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association. And they were actually able to get grants from the Pennsylvania state legislature. And then they used those funds to purchase more land around the battlefield.”
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