National Homestead at Gettysburg

The National Homestead at Gettysburg was an orphanage and widows home opened in October 1866 (incorporated March 22, 1867) on the Gettysburg Battlefield along Steinwehr Avenue on the north foot of Cemetery Hill. The facility was created by Dr. John F. Bourns after fundraising resulting from the identification of a Battle of Gettysburg casualty's children as Amos Humiston's. In 1867, Ulysses S. Grant was photographed with orphans at the entrance, and an 1870 Pennsylvania bill was used to fund the facility.