Gettysburg Before The Battle

As seen in the 2026 Destination Gettysburg Getaway Guide

Gettysburg Colonial Roots

Gettysburg’s history reaches back well before the Civil War. Early Scots Irish settlers, frontier farms, and the turnpikes that carried travelers west helped shape this region long before armies arrived. Local militia culture and Pennsylvania’s role in the American Revolution left lasting marks on the landscape and its people. At the Gettysburg Museum of History, artifacts from the colonial era help connect these early stories to the events that later unfolded on the battlefield. Together, they show how Gettysburg grew from a colonial crossroads into a place where the nation’s founding ideals would later be tested.

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