New Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center grand opening this weekend

Nearly two million visitors visitors come every year to explore the Gettysburg National Military Park to learn about both the Civil War and the infamous 1863 Battle of Gettysburg. But two million visitors is a lot, and in order to better accommodate them, new facilities had to be built; in order to expand educational opportunities to visitors and to highlight the historical importance of the site, the Gettysburg Foundation and the National Park Service therefore pooled together $103 million and constructed a new visitor center.

Although it opened in April 2008, the new Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center kicks off its official grand opening celebration tomorrow, Friday September 26. The new visitor center has an extensive collection of artifacts and archives. And like any good visitor center, there are plenty of interactive displays, complete with a voice theater for readings from battle participants — well, people acting to be them.

The grand opening also marks the debut of the Gettysburg Cyclorama painting. A colossal circular oil painting, the Cyclorama is the only one of its kind in North America. The painting has been undergoing a $15 million restoration effort for the last five years; that’s certainly one expensive face lift worth seeing.

The grand opening is set to start at 11 a.m, and even Governor Edward G. Rendell will be making an appearance. You can find a full schedule of events here.

Historic “Electric Map” at Gettysburg is still gone, but not forgotten

I had high hopes someone would rescue the “Electric Map” at Gettysburg, but I haven’t seen anything new about it since the plug was pulled on the attraction in April. (See article) Here’s a link to “Save the Map,” a movement started to, well, save the map, but it doesn’t say the map was saved.

The map used to be at the Gettysburg National Park Visitor’s Center, but the new visitor center, now called Gettysburg Museum of the American Civil War dumped it for more modern trimmings.

I suppose the film A New Birth of Freedom narrated by Morgan Freeman is a fine way to let visitors know about the Civil War and the battle at Gettysburg, but I’ll miss the map when I go to here the next time.

That map, though, was funky and I think worth saving if nothing else for its nostalgic value and history. It was first displayed in the 1939. Perhaps another organization will acquire it. I hope so.

I went to Gettysburg when I was in the 5th grade. The electric map is about the only thing I remember. For a map experience via YouTube video, keep reading.

If you’re a person who likes details and is a visual learner, it seems to me this is a simple way to learn a lot of information and be able to see how a battle is organized.

Civil War bus tour in Washington, D.C.

Jeffrey recently wrote a post about the Gettysburg electric map that depicts this battle in different colored electric lights. The map may become no more, but here is a new opportunity to learn about the Civil War. In Washington, D.C., starting Memorial Day weekend, the bus tour “Civil War Washington: Soldiers and Citizens” will be taking people to several sites important to the time period.

On the list of stops:

  • Lincoln Cottage on the grounds of the U.S. Armed Forces Retirement Home. This is where Abe Lincoln went to as a summer retreat.
  • Fort Stevens which was attacked during the Civil War
  • The African American Civil War Memorial
  • Peterson House where Lincoln died. He was taken to this house from the Ford Theater where he was shot.

As with any bus tour worth the money, this tour gives insider type information like how Matthew Brady, a Civil War photographer attempted to get his shots. For information about the tour, click here.