The Gettysburg Quarterly

Preparing for 2013

The offi cial newsletter of Gettysburg National Military Park · Fall 2012 · Vol. 19, No. 3

Project funding from the National Park 

Service, fi nancial support from the Gettysburg Foundation, and the hard work 

of park staff and volunteers is helping 

us prepare the park for the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg and 

the Gettysburg Address. In order to roll 

out the red carpet in 2013 we have been 

working hard. Here is a wrap-up of just 

some of the projects underway or recently completed.

Museum Galleries / Artifact Rotation

- To refresh the park’s museum exhibits 

and give sensitive artifacts and documents a rest, we have installed 150 new, 

historic artifacts into the exhibits. The 

Gettysburg Foundation funded the project, which included conservation of each 

object to prep it for display. The Civil 

War Museum of Philadelphia, the Texas 

Civil War Museum and the Robert E. Lee 

Memorial Foundation have loaned artifacts to the park for the project.

Treasures of the Civil War Exhibit - 

Work continues on this special battle 

anniversary exhibit co-sponsored by the 

Gettysburg Foundation and the park. 

The exhibit will open in the museum’s 

Gilder Lehrman Gallery in June 2013. It 

will feature rare Civil War artifacts that 

provide links to leaders of the Civil War 

era—including Abraham Lincoln, Jeff erson Davis, Robert E. Lee, George Meade, 

Frederick Douglass and Clara Barton. 

This glimpse into the lives of these extraordinary people will help visitors gain 

a better understanding of the magnitude 

of the Civil War and its lasting impact on 

our nation.

Soldiers’ National Cemetery Rostrum – 

Work is progressing on this project which 

includes waterproofi ng of the masonry, 

adding internal drainage systems to the 

structure, repointing and brick replacement. We also plan to replace the wooden trellis and place sod on the platform 

of the rostrum, both of which were in 

the original design. This project is being 

completed with the fi nancial assistance 

of the Gettysburg Foundation. 

Safety Project / Pedestrian Trail along 

Taneytown Road - A safety project has 

been awarded to construct a pedestrian 

trail from Pleasonton Avenue to Hunt 

Avenue with a connecting trail to the 

Museum and Visitor Center. The new 

trail will remove pedestrians from Taneytown Road in this section where visitors 

Construction at the Rostrum in the Soldiers’ 

National Cemetery, left, with Bert Herbert, 

park archeologist, doing testing at the project 

site. The photo above shows the deteriorated interior walls of the rostrum after the 

fi ll was excavated.

have been walking in increasing numbers 

along the narrow, busy roadway with 

little or no shoulder. The contract will 

begin in the fall of 2012 and will be completed by the spring of 2013.

Painting contracts at the Eisenhower 

National Historic Site - Numerous 

painting projects are underway at the site, 

including the Eisenhower bank barn and 

Quonset hut on Farm 1 and the east and 

west bull sheds, maternity barn, loafi ng 

shed, and the silo and self-feeder on Farm 

2. Lead based paint abatement is being 

done by park staff for the main home, 

and preservation repairs being made to 

shutters, doors, and garage doors on both 

sites. Our goal is to complete the work by 

the end of 2012. 

The Blocher House – This project is 

90% complete and has included repointing the exterior stone walls, replacing the 

non-historic Mansard roof with a historic 

wood shingle roof, reconstruction of the

 (Continued on page 2)

Park News National Park Service

U.S. Department of the Interior
Gettysburg National Military Park, established 

in 1895, is the site of the great Civil War 

battle that repulsed the second Confederate 

invasion of the North. The mission of the National Park Service at Gettysburg is to preserve 

and protect the resources associated with the 

battle of Gettysburg and the Soldiers’ National Cemetery and provide an understanding 

of the events that occurred there within the 

context of American history. 

Gettysburg National Military Park

1195 Baltimore Pike, Suite 100

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 17325

Phone

(717) 334-1124 

E-mail

gett_superintendent@nps.gov

The National Park Service cares for the 

special places saved by the American people 

so that all may experience our heritage.

2 The Gettysburg Quarterly

National Park Service

U.S. Department of the Interior

addition in the back, creating new historically-accurate window frames, sashes, 

exterior door frames and doors. 

The Pitzer Barn – We are now in our 

second year of this project which includes replacing all of the white oak sill 

beams, rebuilding of lower barn doors, 

reframing nearly the entire west gable 

end, rebuilding all louvered vents, and 

installation of a fi re suppression system. 

We are also in the process of installing 

new board and batten sheathing and new 

louvered vents on the west end and rebuilding and stabilizing the barn’s north 

side. This is an old-style, timber frame 

structure and park staff is staying true to 

that style of building method using mortise and tenons, oak pins and dowels for 

fasteners, and using the original species 

of wood such as white oak. The work involves moving the old timbers with block 

and tackle, rope and pulleys, and good 

old-fashioned muscle power.

Fencing – This summer we replaced 

numerous historic fences on the battlefi eld, including: the Sherfy hog fence, 

the Slyder lane post and board fence, the Emmitsburg Road hog fence, the Spangler farm’s post and board fence, and 

the picket fences at the Hummelbaugh, 

Rose, Bushman, Spangler, Klingel, Trostle 

and Althoff farms. Park staff also reconstructed the stone and rider fence behind 

the U.S. Regulars monument; the stone 

and rider fence that runs from the Trostle 

farm to Wheatfi eld Road; a section of 

Virginia Worm fence that runs from U.S. 

Regulars monument to the Codori farm; 

the stone and rider fence along Wheatfi eld Rd. by the Althoff house; and a post 

and rail fence at the Weikert house. 

Fences in the Pickett’s Charge area were 

cleared of brush and repaired as necessary. The team completely re-constructed the post and rail fence on the west side 

of Culp’s pasture by the Slocum equestrian monument and the post and rail fence 

at Benner’s Hill along the property line. 

In addition, together with Friends of Gettysburg volunteers we built new Virginia 

worm along the east side Chambersburg 

Pike from Lee’s Headquarters north to 

Plum Run, and new post and rail on the 

west side of Chambersburg Pike.

Horse trail repairs – Park staff repaired 

the trail that runs along the fence at 

Brown’s Ranch from McMillan Woods 

to the other tree line by the Virginia Memorial. This section of trail had washed 

out several times and the trail surface 

was barely distinguishable. With help 

from the Gettysburg Equestrian Historical Society we repaired a second horse 

trail section - from the Sedgwick Equestrian monument to the Weikert farm. 

Although this trail is not as frequently 

used as some of the other trails, it needed 

repairs due to environmental concerns. 

The trail is in a wooded area that does 

not drain well. With continued use 

through a couple of wet seasons the trail 

was almost impassable and heavily worn. 

After exploring several options, we decided to replicate the boardwalk that was 

used on other horse trail sections, to elevate the horses off of the wet areas. The 

material was bought by a donor and the 

Pedestrians along the Taneytown Road, top. 

The model of the 121st Pa. cartridge box, 

bayonet and belt, above left. A new horse 

trail boardwalk built by volunteers from the 

Gettysburg Equestrian Historical Society, 

above right.
The Gettysburg Quarterly 3

On August 22, 2012, Gettysburg National 

Military Park posted an environmental 

assessment (EA) for the Final Disposition 

of the Gettysburg Cyclorama Building on 

the National Park Service’s (NPS) public 

planning website, http://parkplanning.

nps.gov/cycloramaea. The comment 

period ended September 21, 2012. 

The NPS is proposing to demolish the 

Gettysburg Cyclorama building, located 

on North Cemetery Ridge in Gettysburg 

National Military Park, as part of its project to rehabilitate North Cemetery Ridge 

to its historic 1863 and commemorativeera appearance. Other actions would 

include returning monuments to their 

historic locations, rebuilding commemorative pedestrian pathways and rebuilding historic fences. 

The environmental assessment was prepared in response to a decision of the 

U.S. District Court in March 2010 directing the NPS to undertake a site-specifi c 

environmental analysis on the demolition 

of the Cyclorama building and to 

continued on next page

installation was done by the Gettysburg 

Equestrian Historical Society.

The Cannon Shop - The crew continues 

to repair cannon carriages and return 

them to the battlefi eld. We hope to complete another 24 carriages this year with 

the eff orts of staff and volunteers. We 

completed carriages 295 thru 299 this 

summer and placed them along Confederate Avenue and Emmitsburg Road. We 

also repaired positions on Power’s Hill 

for the placement of artillery pieces.

Monument Preservation - We recently 

repaired the 10th Massachusetts, 11th 

Massachusetts, and 121st Pennsylvania 

monuments. The 10th Mass. included 

bronze metal fi nishing and confi guring and positioning components, using 

historic Tipton photos as a guide. Final 

patina work was completed. The model 

of the 121st Pennsylvania’s bayonet, cartridge box, and belt was received and the 

piece was molded and wax poured, fi tted 

and chased. It has been shipped to the 

foundry. A loose Michigan state seal was 

removed in June. The park decided to 

make a mold of this seal to replace another one in our park as well as provide 

a mold to Chattanooga National Military 

Park which needed Michigan state seals 

for their monuments. The 11th Massachusetts sculpture contract was awarded 

to Granite Industries of Vermont and 

the model was shipped to them. We also 

temporarily removed, blasted, and powder coated ten park avenue signs from 

the fi rst day’s fi elds, and started planning 

for the repairs of the Copse of Trees iron 

fence which was damaged in a recent 

storm.

The crew repointed the masonry on 24 

monuments in the south end of the park 

this year to date. The 74th PA Infantry 

on Howard Avenue was reset with no 

problems. We cleaned and waxed the 

Pennsylvania Memorial. This required 

the rental of a 150ft lift, paid for by the 

Gettysburg Foundation. We also waxed 

the NY State monument and the Stannard VT monument. 

Above left, the crew resets the 74th Pa. monument along Howard Avenue. On the right, 

Tom Shriver, of the park’s monument preservation crew, working on Winged Victory high 

atop the Pennsylvania Memorial.

The Future of the Cyclorama Building

Park Advisory Commission member Bob Prosperi, left, talks with park historian Winona 

Peterson at the September 6, 2012, workshop for the Cyclorama building EA. 
Once the comment period ends, 

the NPS will carefully evaluate

the comments and proceed with 

a decision. If necessary, a Finding of No Signifi cant Impact (FONSI) would be prepared and recommended for signature by the park superintendent to the Northeast 

regional director. Then implementation could begin. The Gettysburg Foundation has 

the funds available to do the work.

4 The Gettysburg Quarterly

National Park Service

U.S. Department of the Interior

Gettysburg National Military Park

1195 Baltimore Pike, Ste. 100

Gettysburg, PA 17325

The Gettysburg Cyclorama building

consider “non-demolition alternatives” 

to its removal before any implementing action is taken on the building. The 

building is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

The EA described the environment and 

resources that would be aff ected by 

the alternatives and the environmental 

consequences of implementing these 

alternatives. The three alternatives are 

Alternative A: No-action: Mothballing of 

Cyclorama Building; Alternative B: Demolition and Removal of the Cyclorama 

Building (NPS Preferred); Alternative C: 

Relocation of the Cyclorama Building 

outside the Park by a Non-NPS Entity. 

The NPS identifi ed a preferred alternative, B: Demolition and Removal of the 

Cyclorama Building as the NPS preferred 

alternative because it best 

meets the project’s purpose 

and need to rehabilitate the 

landscape of the North Cemetery Ridge to its 1863 and 

commemorative-era appearance by removing modern 

intrusions.

The Future of the Cyclorama Building (continued)

W a n t t h e l a t e s t u p d a t e s f o r e v e n t s a n d 

p r o g r a m s f o r G e t t y s b u r g ’ s 1 5 0 t h c o m m e m o r a t i o n ? 

G o t o w w w . g e t t y s b u r g c i v i l w a r 1 5 0 . c o m 

EXPERIENCE YOUR AMERICATM