We spent a week in Gettysburg. Most of the time the weather was cold and rainy which makes it hard to explore a battlefield. We did have a few hours here and there with decent weather. We crammed in as much as we could during those times.

There are a few ways you can see the battlefield of Gettysburg. We opted to buy the auto tour on disc that came with a nice booklet. The set was really well thought out and very informative without being dry or boring.

The first thing that struck us was how many memorials there are. Every army, corp, division, brigade, regiment, company, and state that took part in the battle has a memorial, monument, or marker.

On the second day of the battle the Trostle Farm was stuck in the middle of a battle. If you look closely you can see the cannonball hole still there.

Some of the monuments are so elaborate! You can actually go into the Pennsylvania Monument. There are stairs that lead to the top where you can look out over the battlefield.

You know, you can read about these things in books, watch documentaries about them…but when you’re out on the ground where it took place while hearing about the personal struggles of the soldiers and the citizens…it really gives you a new understanding of what took place here. Three days in July two armies met by chance…and the country changed forever.

When the battle was over on that third day and the armies left Gettysburg, they left behind a community in ruins and over 51,000 soldiers who were dead, missing, or wounded. More men fell during the Battle of Gettysburg than in any other battle on American soil.

The Soldier’s National Cemetery was dedicated on November 19, 1863. President Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address here. The speech was 272 words, lasted around two minutes, and transformed Gettysburg from a scene of utter destruction and death into a symbol of inspiration to those still living. Lincoln stated that the war would lead to a “new birth of freedom” for our young nation.

You can’t stand in the spot where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address. The Soldiers’ National Monument was erected in that spot. Unfortunately, when we were visiting the monument was undergoing some restoration work so we got to see it covered in scaffolding.

The Gettysburg Address Memorial isn’t too far from the spot Lincoln gave the speech.

There’s so much to see and do in Gettysburg. You could spend an entire day touring the battlefield alone. It took us two days to finish the battlefield auto tour, but you could do it in one really long day.

Part of the Gettysburg experience is the Eisenhower National Historic Site. You have to take a bus from the Visitor Center to get there because there’s no public parking at the farm.

When Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower bought this farm in 1950 the house was in bad condition. When they started remodeling it, they found a decaying 200 year old log cabin under the brick veneer. They saved what they could of the original house and used bits and pieces of it around the new house.

Mamie Eisenhower’s favorite color was pink. If you didn’t know that about her before you visited her home, you would figure it out pretty quickly. The main color scheme throughout the house is pink.

Eisenhower used the farm to breed Black Angus for shows.

 Eisenhower Farms show cattle gained recognition in the Angus raising community by winning ribbons at major competitions across the U.S.

The boys took the opportunity to earn a Secret Service badge.

This booklet was challenging physically and mentally. They definitely earned that badge!

The tour of the Eisenhower Farm is a self-guided tour which is kind of a bummer. When we visited the Lyndon B. Johnson Ranch it was a guided tour and the tour guide told us little stories and details about each room we saw. We were talking to one of the Ranger’s outside of the Eisenhower home and he told us this great story of when the Eisenhower’s first moved onto the farm. Not far from the farm is a watchtower for the Gettysburg Battlefield and the Secret Service wanted to close it down for safety reasons. Ike didn’t feel like it was necessary so one of the Secret Service agents gave him a copy of a book about assassins. After reading the book Ike had the tower closed. I feel like it’s stories like that that help us understand and maybe even relate to the person and not the public persona.

There were several lilac bushes in bloom while we were at the Eisenhower Farm. I took the time to smell them all…

I’m not sure what kind of flower this is, but it’s pink! These were also at the Eisenhower Farm.

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016