Gettysburg- Easter Sunday, March 31, 2024

Some highlights from today:

• After slowly waking up this morning, we took a walk out Steinwehr Avenue /Emmitsburg Road towards the heart of Pickett's Charge, and Scott got a Diet Coke at McDonald's.
• We drove towards York Street to get some things for tonight and ended up getting McDonald's for lunch too.
• Since we'd called the people yesterday, we went to the private property to see the 49th New York's monument.  It stands on "Lost Avenue" which is almost impossible to get to without crossing over this guy's farm.  He came out to greet us and was very friendly.  It was quite a large hill to climb, but Brian had never been there before and Scott has only been there once.  We recorded a song there- "The Forty Ninth New York" by Scott's friend Ollie.  We also saw the sign that marks the extreme right of the Union Infantry at the top of that hill.
  
• It had become a running joke this weekend that we kept leaving for Culp's Hill and kept getting distracted by other things, so our next stop was to see Culp's Hill.  We saw the 2nd Massachusetts monument which was the first permanent regimental monument on the battlefield.  Brian and Scott both climbed the tower there for the view.
  
• We went to the 64th New York's monument, which was a little tricky because the roads up to and down from the Round Tops are still closed.  Brian wanted a picture by the Irish Brigade monument. We stopped at the path for Henry Fuller's stone, but it was very muddy.  Brian went all the way out to it, but Scott did not.  When we were at the 64th's monument, we recorded a song that Scott had put together from a poem that was originally written for the 1890 dedication of this monument.  After that we stopped in the Wheatfield to look around.
• On the way to the Angle, Brian had to stop to get "absolution" from the Father Corby statue because he had eaten meat on Good Friday and hadn't gone to mass today.  We stayed for a little while at the Angle and strolled around there.
• We went back to the hotel and sat on the porch in front of our room and played a bunch of songs.  By this point, it was in the high 60s and sunny.  Since the sun was still up, we enjoyed the weather and the setting.
• We went to Gettysburg Eddie's for dinner.  Brian was disappointed that Gettysburg Eddie's doesn't serve spaghetti.  He was ready.

 

Gettysburg- March 30, 2024

A few highlights from today:

• We went to the Visitor Center first thing after breakfast. 
• We decided to go around the first day's battlefield,  with stops at Lee's Headquarters, the 9th Cavalry monument, and Barlow's Knoll.
• At the 154th monument, we tried recording a version of "The Brave Soldier," a poem by Andrew Park of Co. B that we turned into a song.  We tried quite a few takes.  We'll see if any came out.
• We went to the area around the town square for lunch.  Brian got something at an Irish store, Scott got something for Abby at the Nerdherd game shop, and two books for himself.  He got a discount for mentioning the "Addressing Gettysburg" podcast.  Brian also liked taking pictures of Civil War drums at the Little Drummer Boy antique shop. We finished with a late lunch at the Lincoln Diner
• We went to a few of the shops on Steinwehr that we hadn't seen yesterday.  In the morning we went to the Gettysburg Heritage Center.  In the afternoon we went to the Horse Soldier and then to the Dobbin House for Rum Bellies and sweet bread for Julie.
• In the evening, we walked up to Garyowen, the Irish pub near the middle of town that Brian has been needing to go to.
• We finished the night at the Mine Saloon again.

 
Scott as "the King of Mars."