The News from Gettysburg

There are many exciting developments in the park given the progress of battlefield rehabilitation, construction of the new museum and visitor center, summer events, ranger programs, and special events. Visit our Park News pages for information on park happenings and updates as they occur.

Park News is a service of the Public Affairs Office of Gettysburg National Military Park, 1195 Baltimore Pike, Gettysburg, PA 17325. Questions or comments can be sent via e-mail to: Katie Lawhon, Public Affairs Specialist at Gettysburg National Military Park.

(National Park Service)

The new Museum & Visitor Center at Gettysburg.

The New Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center

A partnership between the National Park Service and the Gettysburg Foundation, based on the 1999 General Management Plan for Gettysburg National Military Park, has resulted in the construction of a new Museum and Visitor Center to located on the Baltimore Pike in Cumberland Township, Adams County. The new building, which opened in April 2008 with a grand opening scheduled for September, orients visitors to the park and Gettysburg, hosts a museum on the Civil War from beginning to dramatic end featuring items from the massive museum collection of Civil War and Gettysburg artifacts, and houses the fully restored Gettysburg Cyclorama. The $135 million dollar project has been funded through generous donations of corporations and individuals alike.

The Cyclorama Center and old Visitor Center on Taneytown Road are now permanently closed. Exhibits and offices in these buildings have been moved to the new Museum and Visitor Center. For additional information on the Gettysburg Foundation and the work this organization is undertaking at Gettysburg, visit the Foundation's web site at  www.gettysburgfoundation.org.

For facts at a glance about hte new museum and visitor center as well as other park features, check our "Facts at a Glance" page, The New Visitor Experience at Gettysburg

Media Statement Regarding Display of the Rosensteel Plaques in the New Museum and Visitor Center
by Superintendent John Latschar,October 17, 2007 (pdf)

(NPS)

The Emmitsburg Road in 1948.

Battlefield Rehabilitation at Gettysburg

Battlefield rehabilitation is one of the major initiatives called for in Gettysburg National Military Park’s approved General Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement. Rehabilitation of battlefield elements will follow a process that includes identification, treatment, and maintenance plans. The historical benefits of the project are obvious to many but there are clear environmental benefits as well. The rehabilitation project is based on a set of goals designed to better understand the battlefield landscape, provide a better learning environment for visitors, and to reestablish many of the natural elements long missing from the park landscape.

Many of the recent changes to the battlefield include removal of non-historic trees from southern portions of the park, Oak Hill, and Seminary Ridge. Historic orchards have been planted at several battlefield farms and historic fencing has returned to portions of the battlefield landscape. more...

(Adams County Historical Society)

The David Wills Home in 1890.

The David Wills House Project

The historic David Wills House in downtown Gettysburg is undergoing a complete renovation and rehabilitation prior to its opening schedule for February 2009 as a downtown visitor center and museum. Exhibits in the museum will tell the story of a town recovering from the devastation of battle, and a war-worn President who came to dedicate a national cemetery.

David Wills’ home was in the center of the immense clean-up process after the Battle of Gettysburg. In a second-floor bedroom, President Abraham Lincoln put the finishing touches on his Gettysburg Address - the speech transformed Gettysburg from a place of sorrow to the symbol of our nation's new birth of freedom.

The museum includes six galleries, including the restored office where David Wills coordinated post-battle recovery efforts and invited a President to deliver "a few appropriate remarks," and the famous Lincoln bedroom where the President finished revising the Gettysburg Address.

Main Street Gettysburg will operate the museum in cooperation with the National Park Service. See the Park brochure for driving directions and parking, or take the downtown shuttle from the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center, 1195 Baltimore, Gettysburg. There will be an admission fee to the Wills House.

The David Wills House Facts and Figures (pdf)