Gettysburg Reenactment
The last few weeks have been very full.
Following our weekend to D.C. the kids and I had routine visits to the doctor, and our weekly swim with Grandma. Then we got our library pass to the Reading Public Museum to see the animatronic Dinosaurs! Having never been to the museum, we explored more than just the dinosaur exhibit, and the kids had a blast! We were able to meet up with friends there as well, which is always fun.
The next day we were off to Gettysburg, PA for a reenactment of the battle, and to walk the sacred ground. We didn't walk as much of the sacred ground as we hoped. The day flew! We were able to visit the Cemetery (where Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address), and walk a bit of the trail across Cemetery Ridge, we drove through The Peach Orchard, Devil's Den, the Wheatfield, and we were able to romp around Little Round Top. The kids loved that, except Anastasia became a casualty of the day, falling on rocks and skinning her knee. It's a great story, now, how she slipped on the same rocks Union soldiers probably slipped on 153 years ago. It was a blast. That's all we were able to see of the Military park, we really wanted to get over to the bottom of the hill to see where Pickett's men charged, and the high water mark, but we did not get there between reenactments, which took place a few miles off-site. The first reenactment, the Cavalry Charge, we could barely see. There were tons of people and all of them seemed 3 feet taller than we! Kids were on shoulders and still unable to see any of the action. Following that action, there was a mortar fire demonstration. That was cool! It ended with a huge explosion, which impressed all of us (except maybe Gwen, she was terrified). Then we visited the historic tent village. We met the army laundress, and saw some models of the Navy at the time of the Civil War. My kids really enjoyed seeing the ship models, and the reenactor running the tent showed us a photo of himself inside a replica of the submarine. So fun! He said you can see that in South Carolina. We also saw Robert E. Lee, but his two young guards didn't let us get too close:) Gwen loved seeing the horses in their paddocks and then, we were asked to enlist for Lincoln's Army. Of course, Tristan and Anastasia were none too interested, but our friend's son joined up with enthusiasm! That was fun. The reenactors are so dedicated and authentic, and sacrifice so much for their passion of living out history. You could tell they all were having a blast, but I still admire anyone willing to wear a woolen outfit for 8-12 hours on a hot July day! They are committed. The final battle of the day- a reenactment of the actual battle taking place on July 2, 1863 at 4:30 pm- was really cool. We were able to see more of the action, and it was a beautiful way to end our visit to Gettysburg.
What a day!
The rest of our July fourth weekend was pretty standard, church and a family picnic on the Fourth. We figured we had seen and heard enough explosions for one weekend, so we skipped the fireworks this year.
July 5th we were off to the lake for the week! So fun! It was a perfect week to spend up in the Poconos by the lake because it was so hot!
Books we enjoyed getting ready for our trip out to Gettysburg:
Uniforms of the Civil War, Philip Haythornthwaite (we just enjoyed the pictures)
Gettysburg, A Guided Tour History, Randi Minetor (A great accompaniment to our trip, it talks about the battle at every auto tour stop and has pop-out maps)
Gettysburg, Chris Hughes
Why We Fought, the Battles of the Civil War, Gail Fay
Charlie Waters Goes to Gettysburg, Susan Sinnot (a great introduction to the life of a reenactor)
Following our weekend to D.C. the kids and I had routine visits to the doctor, and our weekly swim with Grandma. Then we got our library pass to the Reading Public Museum to see the animatronic Dinosaurs! Having never been to the museum, we explored more than just the dinosaur exhibit, and the kids had a blast! We were able to meet up with friends there as well, which is always fun.
The next day we were off to Gettysburg, PA for a reenactment of the battle, and to walk the sacred ground. We didn't walk as much of the sacred ground as we hoped. The day flew! We were able to visit the Cemetery (where Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address), and walk a bit of the trail across Cemetery Ridge, we drove through The Peach Orchard, Devil's Den, the Wheatfield, and we were able to romp around Little Round Top. The kids loved that, except Anastasia became a casualty of the day, falling on rocks and skinning her knee. It's a great story, now, how she slipped on the same rocks Union soldiers probably slipped on 153 years ago. It was a blast. That's all we were able to see of the Military park, we really wanted to get over to the bottom of the hill to see where Pickett's men charged, and the high water mark, but we did not get there between reenactments, which took place a few miles off-site. The first reenactment, the Cavalry Charge, we could barely see. There were tons of people and all of them seemed 3 feet taller than we! Kids were on shoulders and still unable to see any of the action. Following that action, there was a mortar fire demonstration. That was cool! It ended with a huge explosion, which impressed all of us (except maybe Gwen, she was terrified). Then we visited the historic tent village. We met the army laundress, and saw some models of the Navy at the time of the Civil War. My kids really enjoyed seeing the ship models, and the reenactor running the tent showed us a photo of himself inside a replica of the submarine. So fun! He said you can see that in South Carolina. We also saw Robert E. Lee, but his two young guards didn't let us get too close:) Gwen loved seeing the horses in their paddocks and then, we were asked to enlist for Lincoln's Army. Of course, Tristan and Anastasia were none too interested, but our friend's son joined up with enthusiasm! That was fun. The reenactors are so dedicated and authentic, and sacrifice so much for their passion of living out history. You could tell they all were having a blast, but I still admire anyone willing to wear a woolen outfit for 8-12 hours on a hot July day! They are committed. The final battle of the day- a reenactment of the actual battle taking place on July 2, 1863 at 4:30 pm- was really cool. We were able to see more of the action, and it was a beautiful way to end our visit to Gettysburg.
What a day!
The rest of our July fourth weekend was pretty standard, church and a family picnic on the Fourth. We figured we had seen and heard enough explosions for one weekend, so we skipped the fireworks this year.
July 5th we were off to the lake for the week! So fun! It was a perfect week to spend up in the Poconos by the lake because it was so hot!
Books we enjoyed getting ready for our trip out to Gettysburg:
Uniforms of the Civil War, Philip Haythornthwaite (we just enjoyed the pictures)
Gettysburg, A Guided Tour History, Randi Minetor (A great accompaniment to our trip, it talks about the battle at every auto tour stop and has pop-out maps)
Gettysburg, Chris Hughes
Why We Fought, the Battles of the Civil War, Gail Fay
Charlie Waters Goes to Gettysburg, Susan Sinnot (a great introduction to the life of a reenactor)
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