Gettysburg battlefield: November 2008 Archives

During the early 1950s, Curvin Heiss and his family lived on East Philadelphia Street in downtown York, Pennsylvania. He and his young son Curvin, Hr. spent hours creating and painting thousands of 54mm toy soldiers, which, after they moved to Gettysburg and purchased the historic Dobbin House, became part of a tourist attraction that remained popular in the late 50s through the early 1970s. Heiss sold the building and the diorama a decade after opening it to the public.

Today, the old Dobbin House is one of my favorite restaurants in Gettysburg.

Here is a link to a couple posts on my Charge! wargaming and diorama blog that I maintain in parallel to this Cannonball blog.

The National Park Service is in the midst of a multi-year plan to begin to restore the 1863 sight lines, woods, and orchards that existed during the Battle of Gettysburg. The latest major tree clearing has been along the west side of Taneytown Road, where, as you can see from the photo, for the first time in a generation, the view has opened up.

Photograph of Winslow's Battery marker in the Wheatfield at Gettysburg National Military Park. Taken by Kim Shayda of the York Civil War Round Table during a recent battle walk.

I am attending the annual Fall-In miniature wargaming convention this weekend at the Eisenhower Conference Center and All-Star Sports Complex just south of Gettysburg. Among the hundreds of wargames was one that replayed the fighting at the wheatfield, and, in particular, the attack by the II Corps division of John C. Caldwell that temporarily cleared the wheatfield of Rebels.

Kathy Friel and other members of the York CWRT listen to the description of what happened on the site on July 2, 1863, during the Battle of Gettysburg.

Kim Shayda of the York Civil War Round Table was among the battlefield trampers on Saturday, November 1st, who accompanied Gettysburg National Military Park interpretive ranger Scott Hartwig on a battlewalk of the Stony Hill and Wheatfield.

For more pictures, click on the link...