Heading Home from Gettysburg- Tuesday, August 25, 2026

     We have to leave today, because the rental car is due back by 9 PM, but that still gave us a little time to explore around the town.

     We started with breakfast at the Steinwehr Diner. which now occupies the same building that the infamous "Marvelous Marv's" did.

     After breakfast we strolled around the area a bit.  We crossed by the Old Homestead and stopped at the shop of sculptor Gary Casteel.  He is responsible for several of the monuments around Gettysburg today, most notably the equestrian statue of Longstreet and the drummer boy in Unity Park.   Scott knows him best as the guy who makes the replicas of monuments of Gettysburg, and Scott owns the replicas he has made of the 154th NY monuments at both Gettysburg and Chancellorsville.  Gary seems like a very nice guy and he spoke with us for a while.  We got to see a sculpture he is currently working on- a life-sized drummer who is sleeping on his drum.  It is being made for a future national Civil War memorial. Naturally, Brian was amazed at that sculpture.

     We passed by the Jennie Wade house and stopped for a moment.  Brian had previously seen a story about a soldier who had carved his initials in the brick of this house using his bayonet while he was sheltering behind it during the battle.  He later returned to add his company and regiment.  Brian wanted to see this carving, and we stood outside the house for a while staring at the bricks to try to spot it.  Scott finally found it- the letters "AFM" for Private Adam F. Miller of Company I, 75th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment.  It is on the southwest corner of the house almost behind drainpipe coming down from the eavestrough.  

     We stopped for a few minutes at Gary Casteel's drummer boy statue, and then we continued on.  We passed by the Dobbin House where they were getting ready for the re-dedication ceremony tomorrow.  A large crane had lowered a giant replica of the Liberty Bell into place among the various plaques in the new park that has been constructed there.  Naturally, Scott is disappointed that we won't be around for the ceremony tomorrow, but we had to head back home.  We only missed it by a day. 

     From here, we drove to the middle of town and briefly visited Lord Nelson's Gallery before heading north.  We listened to old episodes the Addressing  Gettysburg podcast all the way home.  We stopped at Scott's house, where we emptied the car, and Julie followed us to the airport.  We dropped the car off and took Brian home.

 

Gettysburg- Monday, August 24, 2026

 After we did the Revolutionary War stuff in New York City, it might seem like we jumped ahead four score and seven years by coming to Gettysburg, but we're here because the Dobbin House is celebrating their 250th year this year too.  Here's a quick outline of our day:

• Breakfast at McDonald's on Steinwehr Avenue
•  First stop was the National Park visitor center.  Scott bought three books for himself.  We talked to a ranger about information on "South Cavalry Field."
• South Cavalry Field was our "new" spot to visit this time.  We didn't know, but it was where General Elon Farnsworth was ordered to make his ill-fated charge on July 3rd.  He ended up dying in that charge.  It ends up being on ground that we drive through a lot but haven't stopped to try to understand.
• While exploring "South Cavalry Field" we ended up climbing to the summit of Big Round Top, maybe only the third time that Scott has been there and the second time for Brian.  We also were at Little Round Top in got a little lost in the field across from Devil's Den.  We stopped briefly in Excelsior Field too, before it was well past time for lunch.
• Lunch was at the Dobbin House, as mentioned  above.  Scott had "Adam's Delight" which included the famous sweet bread, and Brian had a Rum Bellies Vengeance.  (Don't tell Julie, but we bought her a loaf of sweet bread, of course.)
•  After the Dobbin House, we made a quick stop at the hotel, then headed out to some of the shops east of the town square.  We went to the 154th's monument and mural and continued out to the 14th Brooklyn's monument by the railroad cut, just because we were just in Brooklyn.
• We stopped at a few stores and returned to the hotel for a brief time, then stopped at the hotel for a few minutes.  Scott's Diet Cokes had frozen in the refrigerator and one "exploded" as he was waiting for it to thaw.  It burst through the ice, spraying Diet Coke all over but miraculously none of it got on the computer. 
• We walked to the Garyowen pub for dinner.  
• After dinner we walked to the Farnsworth House to drink a toast to him, since we'd spent time exploring that part of the battlefield.  They were just closing but we had enough time for one drink and a quick look at the stuff from the Gettysburg movie that they have on display.
• We walked back to the hotel and spent the rest of the evening there.