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As I mentioned in my last post, while my mom and sister were in town we took part of one day and headed to Gettysburg. (Gettysburg is about a 3 1/2 hour drive from where we are living here in Pennyslvania.)
The day we went, I had scheduled Chayse’s newborn photo shoot in the morning. I didn’t realize the shoot would be around 3 hours long, so we ended up with less time in Gettysburg than we had anticipated.
Truthfully though, considering I had just had Chayse ten days before, it turned out to be plenty for me and for Titan’s 5-year old attention span. 🙂
The first thing we did when we arrived was go to the David Wills House which is situated right next to The Inn at Lincoln Square.
If you aren’t familiar with the Wills House, here is a little bit about it: “The David Wills House features five museum galleries and two recreated rooms, the David Wills Law Office and the Lincoln Bedroom. The museum will guide you through the days, weeks and months after the battle of Gettysburg. It illustrates President Lincoln’s historic visit to the devastated town, the immortal words of the Gettysburg Address and the legacy of hope and healing that they brought, and continue to bring, to our nation.”
We only spent less than an hour at this museum (we got there right before closing) but it was definitely the perfect starting point for our mini outing.
For reference, the museum is open varied hours during the year. So many sure to check their times before you go! And admission is $6.50 for adults and $4.00 for youth. While kids 5 and under are free. Also, you will want quarters for the parking meters! We didn’t have any change and so I had to run into a local shop and luckily they were nice enough to make change for us.
Titan with the Abraham Lincoln statue right outside the Wills House.
The best part about this museum was being able to show Titan things like the actual room Abraham Lincoln slept in the night he wrote the Gettysburg Address. Titan got to see how rooms differ from the hotels we stay at today, and basically see first hand what it would have been like back then.
While I know you can read all these things in a book or look them up online, there is definitely something to be said for seeing them in person. I know Titan has retained a lot more from our mini excursion than he would have had we just read about everything in a book.
Of course, if you can’t make it in person, the Wills House does have a great website where you can see a lot of pictures and do your own virtual Field Trip of sorts.
Inside the museum they had a lot of interactive displays and short 3-5 minute videos that explained about the Battle of Gettysburg, the writing of the Gettysburg Address, etc.
I loved that there was so much for Titan to look at and watch.
Baby girl getting snuggles from Grandma while we walked around the museum.
After the Wills House we visited a portion of the Gettysburg National Military Park. This is a place you could easily spend hours. There are a lot of trails and paths that you can walk. It was close to getting dark though, and I wasn’t up for TONS of walking. So we just walked around an area located across the street from the Soldier National Cemetery. It was an area set up on a ridge and it was very humbling to think about the events that occurred on that same ground years before.
If I remember correctly, Gettysburg was one of the bloodiest battles of the war and around 50,000 men lost their lives. For such a small area, that is a staggering number! It’s truthfully hard to even imagine.
Ti guy trekking up the ridge.
The view looking out over the ridge.
…and in true boy fashion, Titan only wanted his photo IF it couldn’t be taken by one of the huge cannons. Which reminds me, standing by the cannons and looking out over the ridge started a great discussion on why you want to choose the higher ground in a battle ie. it gives you more perspective, you are harder to reach, it’s harder to run uphill vs. downhill, etc. We also discussed how things evolve and change and why cannons aren’t really used any more in battles.
The next place we decided to stop was the Soldier National Cemetery which was right across the road. This cemetery is where the Union dead from the Battle of Gettysburg are buried and it is also where President Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address.
At the entrance to the cemetery, we stop for a quick moment so I could explain to Titan what this place was and why we need to show respect and be quiet as we walked around.
I am so happy my sister caught this moment on camera. I think it is really important to teach our children history, facts, dates, etc. but I believe it is also equally important to teach them about respect, reverence, and showing our gratitude for those who have gone before us.
As we walked through the Soldiers Cemetery and saw all of the headstones, it really put into perspective just how many lives were lost in the fighting.
My dad is a huge history buff and had told us that there is a feeling in Gettysburg and especially places like the Soldier National Cemetery that is really powerful and humbling. After visiting the cemetery, I now know what he meant. There aren’t really words to describe the loss that occurred as brothers, friends, cousins, etc. all fought, sometimes even against each other!
I am so glad Titan was with us for this mini outing and that he can now say he’s been to Gettysburg. When we talk about the presidents, look at a penny or even talk about history, he will almost always bring up something he learned from this impromptu “field trip”.
…and this adorable little sweetie was content just to snuggle and sleep on my mom or sister the entire time. If she wasn’t eating, she was usually being held by one of them. It made it really easy for me to be able to focus on Titan for a little bit and to help make the excursion as educational as possible for him.
After the cemetery, it was time for some dinner and we decided to give The Pub & Restaurant a try. (It was across the round about from the Wills House).
If you are in the area and are looking for a good place to eat, I’d definitely recommend this place. The atmosphere was so picturesque and the food was really good as well! Plus, if you eat outside, you have a great view of the Wills House, the Gettysburg Hotel, and more.
We did have some issues with our server, but I’m assuming not all their servers are as bad as the one we had. And really, he was only a bad server if you weren’t also purchasing alcohol with your meal. He seemed to only pay attention to the tables that were also drinking. Probably because more drinks means more money spent and a larger tip. Of course, we are usually awesome tippers, so it was too bad for him.
Our view at dinner. Such a nice summer night! We couldn’t have asked for better weather!
We ordered a few dishes to share, and none of them disappointed! That pizza was as delicious as it looks!
…and so were these egg rolls!
We did order more than those two dishes, those were just the only ones we remembered to photograph. 🙂
While we were sitting at dinner I had a partial view of The Gettysburg Hotel and I thought it would be a really fun hotel to stay at if we ever made our way back to Gettysburg. I thought the rates would be ridiculously priced though because of it’s location, but once I got home and did some research online, I found that rates start at only $109.00. So not too bad at all!
All in all, I think we were only in Gettysburg for four or so hours. I feel like with just the three stops we made though, we got a great overview and it was the perfect mix of interactive and just sight seeing for a 5-year old (and a mom recovering)!
Since our trip I have been told that there are guides on CD that you can purchase like the Gettysburg Expedition Guide that will guide you all around the town and battle fields and give you lots of facts and information. (I would guess there is probably an MP3 version out there as well?! I just couldn’t find one…) I’ve decided if/when we go back I definitely want to do that OR I want to have my dad with us! He knows so much about the area and the history, I know we’d be ok without another type of tour guide. 🙂
If you’ve been to Gettysburg, I’d love to know what you did? Where you ate, what you saw, etc!
While I think we covered the main things and got a good feel/foundation of Gettysburg in, I do feel like we just barely scratched the surface of what there is to do there! So definitely looking for more ideas for next time!
