One-tank road trips: March 2008 Archives

For many years, the National Park Service has allowed various organizations, as well as private citizens, to "adopt" a monument or position on the Gettysburg battlefield. Volunteers are encouraged to clean-up and maintain the general environ of the area around the monument. Activities include weeding, trimming, clearing underbrush, and general maintenance of the grounds. These volunteer groups often meet once or twice a year for organized work parties that often include meals or refreshments together before or after the work.

A couple members of the York CWRT have adopted positions and are having a clean-up day on April 5. I'm sure they would welcome more help from any Cannonball readers!!

The Gettysburg Civil War Round Table is sponsoring a one-day bus trip retracing the route John Wilkes Booth and David Herold took after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Seats on the bus are filling quickly, so make sure you get your reservation in soon if you want to go. Lunch is included. If I didn't already have a commitment that day, I would definitely go on this fascinating trip. Admissions are also included in the price, as well as tips.

This weekend marks the third annual Reenactor Appreciation Weekend in Gettysburg. Hundreds of uniformed reenactors and living historians will be in town for this event, which is highlighted by a period ball, a ladies' tea, and a fashion show. Several merchants are offering discounts to those in period dress. if you are a reenactor, why not take a stroll through town and register for these free events?

I have gone to this event the past couple of years, as we presented a series of miniature wargames to the public. However, due to sparse attendance at these games, we did not plan any games this year.

Today one of my sons and I toured the Hershey Museum for the first time (before our twentieth trip through the Disney-like “factory tour”). From a history perspective, the museum contained a few Civil War items from Milton S. Hershey’s private collection, including a Confederate tin canteen from Gettysburg with a bullet hole through it on both sides. Also, Hershey had a hand-carved wooden cane with a bullet from Devil’s Den imbedded in the wood.

The museum contains a lot of Civil War-period Pennsylvania German furniture, dishes, musical instruments, clocks, household goods, and other things that would have been very familiar to the Trostles, Weikerts, Codoris, Spanglers, and other Gettysburg residents during the war years.