Gettysburg is one in all our favourite locations on the East Coast. The town has been widespread for many years not solely due to its position within the Civil Conflict however for its engaging downtown teeming with outlets, nice eating places, and sights. Whether or not you want historical past, good meals, or simply hanging out, there’s a lot to entertain you right here. Irrespective of what number of occasions we return, we at all times uncover new, enjoyable issues to do in Gettysburg.
The town’s downtown is compact and extremely walkable. From one finish to the opposite is simply about one mile, so you possibly can see most of the foremost locations of curiosity on a day journey. However that will imply lacking out on the welcoming mattress and breakfasts, the enjoyable craft beverage spots, and most of the historic and pure sights which might be inside only a quick drive.
There’s a lot to select from right here that we’ve put collectively an inventory of a few of our favourite issues to see and do in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, whether or not you’re visiting for a weekend or longer.
See Sachs Lined Bridge
Just some miles from downtown, the Sachs Lined Bridge isn’t solely fairly–it’s historic, too. In-built 1854, the bridge was utilized by each the Union and the Accomplice armies throughout and after the Civil Conflict. In consequence, native lore says it’s essentially the most haunted bridge in America.
Ghost tales apart, the pedestrian-only bridge is a well-liked spot for images. You’ll additionally see individuals out strolling, picnicking, and in any other case having fun with the peaceable setting.
Take a meals tour
It is a foodie city. A tour with Savor Gettysburg is an ideal introduction to the scrumptious bites right here, highlighting a wide range of native specialties from home made ice cream to one of the best soup we’ve ever tasted.
There are a number of tour choices, together with the historic downtown tour, seasonal excursions, and a market go to and cooking class. The experiences final about three hours and contain lower than a mile of strolling, which is sweet since somebody might must roll you residence. Guides may present private suggestions, so a meals tour is a good way to begin a visit for those who’ll be on the town for a few days.
Go to the Shriver Home Museum
The Shriver Home Museum transports you on to the 1860s and delivers a glance into the lifetime of the Shriver household because the Civil Conflict arrived on the town. This distinctive perspective makes it one of the vital attention-grabbing locations to go to in Gettysburg, even for individuals who aren’t Civil Conflict buffs.
The rooms on the Shriver Home inform the story of George, Hettie, and their two younger daughters as they made a life after which confronted the realities of dying that conflict brings. A information wearing a interval costume gives particulars of civilian life and talks about how the city—and the Shrivers, particularly—coped throughout and after the Battle of Gettysburg. You’ll find out about all the pieces from George’s downstairs saloon to the home’s time as a sharpshooter publish and hospital.
The proprietor of the Shriver Home offers common excursions herself. We have been lucky to have her as our information and discovered about the home’s restoration and all of the artifacts which were uncovered within the strategy of bringing the Shrivers’ story to life. Images hint the method of preserving this unusual take a look at the impression of the conflict.
To be taught extra about how the lives of common residents have been modified by the conflict, take this top-rated downtown strolling tour.
Take a cooking class at Hollabaugh Bros.
Adams County, the place Gettysburg is positioned, is the center of apple nation. You may tour totally different orchards and farms the place you possibly can even decide your personal fruits like apples, peaches, and blueberries. Take into account a cease by Hollabaugh Bros., which hosts fruit festivals all year long and affords cooking and canning courses on many weekends. We liked attempting our hand at making apple dumplings, and so they have been scrumptious!
Pattern the wares at native breweries
With greater than 10 craft breweries and cideries within the space, you’re spoiled for selection. There are many easy-to-reach decisions downtown, together with Battlefield Brew Works and Appalachian Brewing Firm. We significantly loved Fourscore Beer Co., which brews uncommon choices like Creamsicle Blueberry Cobbler and 4 S’mores Imperial Stout. Additionally they have a full menu of burgers, sandwiches, and different tasty objects.
Simply outdoors town, take a look at Middle Sq. Brewing and Thirsty Farmer Brew Works, which has common trivia nights and particular occasions at their tasting room in Biglerville. Certainly one of our favourite cideries within the nation–Atomic Canine Exhausting Cider (previously Jack’s)–can be positioned close by.
Stroll via downtown
Simply wandering is among the most enjoyable issues to do in Gettysburg. Downtown is residence to over 100 shops promoting all the pieces from garments to Civil Conflict artifacts. We love Lark for its considerate and distinctive presents, the jewellery and handcrafts at Gallery 30, and the video games and creativity kits at Nerd Herd.
As you stroll via the world, it’s also possible to see quite a lot of buildings from the Civil Conflict with injury from the battle that partially passed off in these streets. Whenever you’ve had your fill of buying and taking within the historical past, give your toes a break at one of many many eating places or tasting rooms.
Cease on the Gettysburg Chocolate Market
Styled like an vintage soda bar, the Gettysburg Chocolate Market has all kinds of choices just some steps off Lincoln Sq.. When you’re in a rush, seize some treats to take with you want connoisseur truffles, fudge, or sweet. If you wish to linger for some time, take a look at their traditional sodas, espresso drinks, teas, ice cream, and scrumptious chocolate concoctions. It’s laborious to go mistaken with any selection right here.
Go to Jennie Wade Home
Regardless of the variety of casualties seen on the battlefield, just one civilian died through the combating–Jennie Wade. She was at residence kneading bread when a bullet shot into the kitchen and killed her.
The Jennie Wade Home (which truly belonged to her sister) is preserved now nearly because it was when Jennie died in 1863. Tour guides inform the story of the Wade household on that day and make clear what it was wish to be a civilian when the conflict got here to city.
Store on the Spherical Barn
Cease on the 110-year-old Historic Spherical Barn and Farm Market just some miles away for recent produce and milk together with nice merchandise–like jam, salsa, and pickles–constructed from the bounty of the spring and summer time fruits and veggies. The Spherical Barn holds periodic occasions and celebrations all year long, together with a youngsters’ market that includes native entrepreneurs, a make-your-own bouquet occasion for Mom’s Day, and enjoyable festivals. It’s one in all our favourite locations on the town for scrumptious treats.
Attempt Mr. G’s Ice Cream
Mr. G’s Ice Cream is among the hottest locations in Gettysburg. They function 16 home made flavors, typically incorporating native featured substances like fruit from Hollabaugh Bros. It’s practically not possible to decide on between the purple velvet, Snickers, salted caramel, and different fabulous flavors.
Followers drive a great distance for a style of Mr. G’s, so don’t miss it if you’re on the town. Examine their Fb web page for present flavors.
Get artistic at Board and Brush
Board and Brush is the right place to deliver out your inside artist, even if you’re undecided you could have one. When you’re questioning what to do in Gettysburg when the climate doesn’t cooperate or if you’re on the lookout for one thing totally different, go to this enjoyable signal workshop. You may select from lots of of patterns and colours, and the employees will allow you to with deciding on finishes, stains, and prospers to make the signal fully private.
I don’t have an inventive bone in my physique, however with the steerage of the employees, I made an indication I liked. Lance even acquired into it and made his personal creation–proof that folks of all pursuits and inventive talent ranges can have a good time right here.
Discover the Gettysburg Battlefield
Gettysburg is most well-known as the placement of the well-known Civil Conflict battle that passed off over 150 years in the past and because the web site the place President Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Deal with simply 4 months later. As we speak, the battlefields are a nationwide park stuffed with monuments to the combating that passed off there.
The easiest way to see the battlefield and perceive the importance of the battles is to take a guided tour. There are many choices, together with a bus tour, a self-drive route, a strolling tour, and even a Segway tour.
A guided coach tour is a good way to see the battlefield. Examine particulars, costs, and critiques right here. For a self-guided driving tour with nice narration, take a look at this widespread choice.
See the Gettysburg Deal with Memorial
The Gettysburg Deal with is among the most well-known speeches ever given. Nonetheless, it’s simple to be confused concerning the web site the place President Lincoln delivered his well-known oration expressing his hope {that a}, “authorities of the individuals, by the individuals, for the individuals, shall not perish from the earth.”
Lincoln’s Gettysburg Deal with Memorial (pictured above) is simply contained in the gates of the Troopers’ Nationwide Cemetery. An accompanying plaque notes that the precise location of the handle is 300 yards away on the web site of the Troopers’ Nationwide Monument–a big white statue with a pillar and a number of other seated figures. Sadly, that location isn’t right both, as Lincoln was standing the within the civilian cemetery, Evergreen Cemetery, which is separated from the troopers’ cemetery by a fence.
Tour Seminary Ridge Museum and Training Middle
The Seminary Ridge Museum and Training Middle gives a novel take a look at the Battle of Gettysburg by focusing in on its first day, July 1, 1863. From the constructing’s cupola, Brigadier Normal John Buford watched the battle start and used the vantage level to direct the motion of Union troops. In a matter of hours, the constructing grew to become a serious discipline hospital, treating troopers on each side of the battle.
A go to to the museum is filled with info, together with movies, murals, and 4 flooring stuffed with reveals and unique artifacts. Life-size dioramas present ailing troopers within the actual spots the place over 600 sufferers have been handled throughout and after the battle. The museum highlights a number of the battle’s lesser-known tales.
This self-guided strolling tour gives a fair deeper dive into the combating at Seminary Ridge.
Go to Gettysburg Nationwide Army Park Museum
For an ideal schooling concerning the Civil Conflict and the Battle of Gettysburg, head to the Gettysburg Nationwide Army Park Museum & Customer Middle. Three foremost reveals there focus on the implications of the Conflict and town’s position in it.
At The Gettysburg Museum of the American Civil Conflict, guests can see one of many largest collections of Civil Conflict artifacts in existence. The close by Cyclorama portray will make you’re feeling such as you’re immersed in Pickett’s Cost, the climax of the battle. The third exhibit is a movie, “A New Start of Freedom,” narrated by actor Morgan Freeman, which units the stage for the battle.
Seize a drink at Mason Dixon Distillery
Mason Dixon Distillery is among the finest distilleries we’ve visited, not simply in Pennsylvania however in our travels across the US. Every part right here is completed with care. Owned by a father-son group, Mason Dixon focuses on native substances every time attainable from the grain to the pears that graced a current restricted batch of brandy.
The Distillery affords vodka, white and aged whiskeys, gin, rum, and genever, that are all highlighted in a prolonged cocktail menu. Past the good drinks, what actually units Mason Dixon Distillery aside is its full-service restaurant. Not solely have they got nice burgers and BBQ, however the menu goes properly past that to incorporate dishes like shrimp and grits, goat cheese brulee, and different surprising specialties. You may go to for a tour, a drink, a meal, or all three.
Go to Eisenhower Nationwide Historic Website
The massive white home on the finish of the Norway Spruce-lined drive is the one residence ever owned by President Dwight Eisenhower and his spouse Mamie. Throughout his presidency, Eisenhower hosted world leaders reminiscent of Winston Churchill and Nikita Khrushchev on the home, which now welcomes guests and faculty teams year-round.
The Eisenhower Nationwide Historic Website seems a lot because it did when the President’s household lived there, with furnishings from the Nineteen Fifties and ‘60s. We visited through the vacation season, and it was enjoyable to see the home decked out in retro 60s decorations. Along with the surprisingly modest home (not all presidents have mansions), the historic web site consists of 700 acres of open area and animal habitats simply minutes from downtown.
Eat on the Dobbin Home
Courting from 1776, the Dobbin Home is the oldest constructing on the town. Its 250 years of historical past–together with its position as a cease on the Underground Railroad and as a Civil Conflict discipline hospital–are lined within the free excursions that occur right here every weekend.
When you can’t match the tour into your schedule, make a degree to go to for dinner or a drink. There are two eating places on property–the Springhouse Tavern and the Dobbin Home Tavern. The Springhouse Tavern is an off-the-cuff pub with a vigorous bar the place you possibly can nonetheless see the unique springs used to maintain meals cool lengthy earlier than refrigeration. Subsequent door, the Dobbin Home Tavern is a tremendous eating colonial-inspired restaurant the place you’re feeling such as you’ve taken a step again to the occasions of Benjamin Franklin.
Dinner by candlelight on the Dobbin Home Tavern is great. We love the baked King’s onion soup, the crab muffins, and the oddly-named Rum Bellies cocktail–it’s a must-try, however tempo your self. The restaurant is widespread, so make sure that to guide forward.
Go to a neighborhood museum
There are many good museums associated to the Civil Conflict and past. The Gettysburg Diorama exhibits the entire 6000-acre battlefield in miniature with hand-painted figures and a light-weight and sound present detailing the combating over three days. On the Gettysburg Museum of Historical past, you’ll discover artifacts from the Civil Conflict in addition to each World Wars, popular culture, and extra. For one thing fully totally different, take a look at the Gettysburg Fireplace Museum the place you possibly can see town’s first “non-hand energy” steam fireplace engine that dates from 1886.
Go wine tasting
The world boasts a handful of wineries producing purple and white wines, primarily from property grown fruits. Some have tasting rooms within the coronary heart of town and others have vineyards simply outdoors of city. They’re all linked on the Adams County Pour Tour, a neighborhood beverage path the place you gather stamps and win prizes for visiting wineries, breweries, and extra (although we didn’t actually need an incentive for that).
Downtown, cease by Reid’s Vineyard or the Buddy Boy Vineyard tasting room for a big collection of white, purple, and candy wines (plus cider at Reid’s). Just some miles away, you’ll discover beautiful views at Halbrendt Winery & Vineyard or Adams County Vineyard the place you possibly can take a tour of their manufacturing amenities or simply get pleasure from a glass on their porch.
Browse the Outlet Shoppes at Gettysburg
Everyone loves an excellent deal and there are many these obtainable at The Outlet Shoppes at Gettysburg. Simply 3 miles from downtown, the buying heart homes practically 50 shops and specialty outlets from Michael Kors to Previous Navy. It’s value a cease whether or not you’re prepared to buy ’til you drop otherwise you’re simply passing via.
Take a look at the Christmas competition
Christmas in Gettysburg is magical. All through the season, there are concert events, performs, particular occasions, and many Christmas lights to get you within the vacation temper. However one of the best weekend to go to is through the Christmas competition.
The primary weekend of December, downtown is crammed with buyers and revelers attending the competition. There are meals vehicles, avenue performers, and stay music throughout city. You’ll discover shops and sights internet hosting distinctive occasions, the annual Christmas parade, magnificent gingerbread creations, and extra.
The place to Keep
Gettysburg Resort: Historical past and luxury within the coronary heart of all the pieces
Brickhouse Inn: High-rated B&B with a killer breakfast
Federal Pointe Inn: Boutique resort in a renovated Nineteenth-century schoolhouse
The place to Eat
There are such a lot of nice locations to eat that it’s laborious to slim it down.
Garryowen Irish Pub: Informal, pleasant spot serving genuine Irish dishes
One Lincoln: Consolation meals with nice drinks
We have been the friends of Vacation spot Gettysburg. All opinions of the enjoyable and historic are our personal.
Laura Longwell is an award-winning journey blogger and photographer. Since founding Journey Addicts in 2008, she has written lots of of articles that assist over 3 million individuals a yr get essentially the most out of their journey. In that point, she has visited practically 60 international locations on 5 continents, typically returning to favourite locations again and again. She has a deep love of historical past, uncovering surprising sights, and attempting all the nice meals a spot has to supply.
Along with Journey Addicts, Laura runs a web site about her hometown of Philadelphia—Information to Philly—which chronicles distinctive issues to do and locations to see round southeastern Pennsylvania. Her journey suggestions and recommendation seem throughout the net.
