Visitors 1,031,554 (in 2010) Nearest city Gettysburg | Area 24.24 km² Management National Park Service | |
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Location Adams County, Pennsylvania (Chesapeake NPS cluster) Established 1966: added to NRHP (#66000642)
1895: national park designation
1893: federal protection
1864: GBMA protection
1863: initial protection Governing body 1933: National Park Service
1896: War Department
1864: Gettysburg Battlefield
Memorial Association Website Gettysburg National Military Park Similar Gettysburg National Cemetery, Gettysburg Museum and Visito, Gettysburg Battlefield, Eisenhower National Historic S, Gettysburg Cyclorama | ||
The Gettysburg National Military Park protects and interprets the landscape of the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. Located in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the park is managed by the National Park Service. The GNMP properties include most of the Gettysburg Battlefield, many of the battle's support areas during the battle (e.g., reserve, supply, & hospital locations), and several other non-battle areas associated with the battle's "aftermath and commemoration", including the Gettysburg National Cemetery. Many of the park's 43,000 American Civil War artifacts are displayed in the Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center.
Contents
The park has more wooded land than in 1863, and the National Park Service has an ongoing program to restore portions of the battlefield to their historical non-wooded conditions, as well as to replant historic orchards and woodlots that are now missing. In addition, the NPS is restoring native plants to meadows and edges of roads, to encourage habitat as well as provide for historic landscape. There are also considerably more roads and facilities for the benefit of tourists visiting the battlefield park.
In 1915, the "National Park Commission" tested the battlefield guides and, due to the limited knowledge (particularly of the most experienced, e.g., only 1 in 8 could name the 7 avenues), established a school for licensing tour guides to charge fees.
Federal land acquisition
The 1864 Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association and later veteran's associations acquired land for memorials and preservation (e.g., the 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry Monument tract with the statuary memorial depicted on the 2011 America the Beautiful Quarter dollar). Federal acquisition of land that would become the 1895 national park began on June 7, 1893, with 9 monument tracts of 625 sq ft (58.1 m2) each and a larger 10th lot of 1.2 acres (4,900 m2) from the Association, as well as 0.275 acres (1,110 m2) from Samuel M Bushman. In addition to land purchases, federal eminent domain takings include the Gettysburg Electric Railway right-of-ways in 1917 (cf. 1896 United States v. Gettysburg Electric Ry. Co.). Donated land included 160 acres from the 1959 Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association and 264 acres (107 ha) from the W. Alton Jones Foundation. The Gettysburg Foundation "is a private, nonprofit educational organization working in partnership with the National Park Service to enhance the preservation and understanding of the heritage and lasting significance of Gettysburg" (e.g., the Foundation leased a facility in 1999 for NPS use to rehabilitate cannon-carriages.) In February 2009, The David Wills House where Lincoln completed his Gettysburg Address was added to the national park by Public Law 106-290 of October 10, 2000 and is operated by Main Street Gettysburg. In 2010, an effort to expand the amount of the federally-owned GNMP land failed in Congress.
Memorials and remembrance
The Park has been a highly symbolic venue for memorials and remembrance. On November 19, 1963 a parade was held in Gettysburg commemorating the centennial of President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, given less than five months after the Battle of Gettysburg. The motorcade parade followed the same route that President Lincoln and Gov. Andrew G. Curtin took 100 years before. Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower—who lived nearby—was there accompanied by Gov. William W. Scranton. The attendance at the 1963 commemoration was lower than the 20,000 to 30,000 persons who attended the original address by President Lincoln in 1863. Thousands of photographers attended the 1963 event while U.S. Air Force aircraft passed overhead. Also attending the event were the 28th Division of the Pennsylvania National Guard headed by Maj. Gen. Henry F. Fluck, the U.S. Marine Band, and the 3rd Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) of the U.S. Army. The parade ended at the rear entrance into the Gettysburg National Cemetery.
