Category: Explore

All Aboard: Explore Gettysburg’s Countryside by Rail

When people think about Gettysburg, they often picture battlefields, monuments, and the Gettysburg Address. Few realize the railroad helped shape many of those stories.

Long before visitors arrived for weekend getaways, trains carried soldiers, supplies, journalists, and eventually President Abraham Lincoln to Gettysburg. After the battle, the railroad became one of the community’s most important lifelines, helping transport thousands of wounded soldiers to hospitals throughout the region.

Today, trains tell a different story. Instead of rushing people through Gettysburg, they invite visitors to slow down, to watch the countryside roll by, hear stories from the rails, and experience Adams ... Read This Story

Gifts with a Story: Holiday Shopping in Gettysburg & Adams County

By: Tina Klym-Snyder

This Christmas, if you love Gettysburg, give Gettysburg.

This holiday season, plan a getaway to Gettysburg and discover how giving local makes every gift more meaningful. In the season of giving, what better way to show your love of something than by sharing it? And in Adams County, there’s so much to share. From handmade confections, handpicked produce, and heirloom artifacts to dazzling jewelry, stylish décor, charming pop culture, and immersive gaming, From charming downtown boutiques and artisan shops to countryside farm markets and small-town antiques, Gettysburg and Adams County invite visitors to experience the joy of shopping ... Read This Story

Peace, Pottery, and Produce

By Destination Gettysburg Staff, from interviews with David and Junko Young, November 2025

At the foot of Little Round Top, where history shaped the nation, David and Junko Young and their four sons have shaped something quieter: an oasis of handmade pottery, fresh produce, and peace. Their business, The Lion Potter, a Gettysburg pottery studio and farmstand, blends art and farming in a way that feels both surprising and completely natural. It’s not a gallery. It’s not a farmstand. It’s a place where beauty, nourishment, and stillness meet.

The Lion Potter is a Gettysburg pottery studio and farm stand ... Read This Story

All Hands-On Fun

As seen in the 2026 Destination Gettysburg Getaway Guide

History here isn’t just something you read on a plaque. It’s something you climb, touch, taste, explore, and play. Gettysburg and Adams County are packed with hands-on experiences that invite kids (and curious grown-ups) to step into the story, get a little messy, and make memories along the way. From orchards and museums to nature trails and living history, these adventures turn learning into action and curiosity into discovery.

Hands-On History & Museums

Interactive experiences where kids can step directly into the past.

Sit in the seat of a real WWII vehicle ... Read This Story

Tee Off in Gettysburg: A Golfer’s Guide to the Region’s Best Courses

By Austin Poulson

Gettysburg offers a range of scenic and well-designed golf courses, making it a top destination in Pennsylvania for both casual players and dedicated golf getaways.

Gettysburg is known for its pivotal role in American history, but it’s also home to an exceptional golf scene that draws players from across the country. Pristine countryside, rolling mountain views, and well-designed courses make Gettysburg and the surrounding area an ideal spot for golfers of all skill levels.

Carroll Valley Golf Course at Liberty Mountain

Set in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, Carroll Valley Golf Course offers a picturesque ... Read This Story

History Meets Ingenuity

As seen in the 2026 Destination Gettysburg Getaway Guide

The Round Barn: Where Historic Ingenuity Meets Everyday Life

Rising from the fields outside Biglerville, the Historic Round Barn is one of Adams County’s most distinctive landmarks and one of its most inventive. Built in 1914, this striking structure was designed with efficiency in mind. Its circular shape allowed farmers to work smarter, not harder, with livestock stalls arranged around a central silo and a roof system engineered to support heavy loads without interior columns. At a time when agriculture was rapidly modernizing, the Round Barn stood at the cutting edge ... Read This Story

WHAT’S RIPE WHEN

As seen in the 2026 Destination Gettysburg Getaway Guide

In Adams County, the calendar is best read by what’s in season. One week it’s berries, the next it’s peaches, and before you know it, apples steal the show.

Orchards and fields in these parts follow a delicious rhythm shaped by sunshine, soil, and tradition. Knowing what’s ripe makes it easy to plan your visit, shop in local markets, and enjoy each season’s freshest flavors at their peak.

For more than two centuries, Adams County’s fertile soil and rolling hills have supported one of Pennsylvania’s most productive fruit-growing regions. Best ... Read This Story

Blossom Belt Beauty

As seen in the 2026 Destination Gettysburg Getaway Guide

Immerse Yourself in the Adams County Blossom Belt: A Scenic Spring Drive Through Orchard Country

Each spring, the Adams County Blossom Belt transforms the rolling countryside into a ribbon of pink and white blooms. Beginning near Fairfield and Cashtown in or around early April, then spreading to the orchards of Biglerville, Aspers, and Gardners, this scenic route celebrates the region’s apple-growing heritage at its most beautiful. Visitors are invited to drive, bike, and immerse themselves in flowering trees, farm markets, and the fleeting magic of blossom season. Lasting only a few ... Read This Story

50 WAYS TO EAT YOUR APPLE

As seen in the 2026 Destination Gettysburg Getaway Guide on page 14

More Than Just Pie

If there’s one thing Adams County knows how to do, it’s apples, with the National Apple Harvest Festival proving it deliciously.

This beloved fall tradition, held the first two weekends in October, isn’t just about apples on trees: it’s about apples everywhere, in every form imaginable. In fact, there are at least 50 separate ways in which to find, eat, sip, drizzle, bake, fry, pickle and indulge in apples during the festival.

Most are comfortingly familiar.

Others may stop you mid-bite with a ... Read This Story

Rooted In Tradition

A sixth-generation family farm in Adams County, Pennsylvania, where commitment, tradition, and fun keep the Peters orchard thriving year-round.

By Destination Gettysburg Staff, from interviews with Katie & Amelia Peters, November 2025

Keeping the Orchard Growing

In Adams County, Pennsylvania, fifth-generation farmer David Peters and his wife, Katie, have helped expand an already thriving family orchard business that grows much more than fruit. Their sixth-generation daughters, are learning the rhythm of the land and the reward of working side by side. Together, they balance long hours, community connection, and a heritage that reaches back to 1870.

“We’re in this together,” Katie says. “We figure it out ... Read This Story

Places to Get a Chill in Gettysburg

by: Tinsy Labrie

Over the past several decades, Gettysburg has been included among the most haunted destinations in the world, with travelers arriving from far and wide to get a glimpse of the Civil War town’s “night life” through ghost tours and haunted investigations at historic landmarks, taverns and inns across the region.

Whether you have a passion for ghost hunting or are a skeptic through and through, these places have a reputation for sending a shiver down your spine. Find out for yourself, if you dare.

Gettysburg Orphanage

A building where children without families were taken after the ... Read This Story

Best Buds

Bring your best bud to meet our best buds and introduce yourself to the magnificent blossoms in Adams County.

It’s always great to make new friends and spring’s the perfect time to open yourself up to new possibilities. Count on our best buds to entice and delight you at every turn. April and May temperatures in south-central Pennsylvania are mild, the air is fresh with the scent of blooming fruit trees, and there’s so much to see and do when you get there.

Gettysburg serves as home-base for an annual visit (or two visits a year, one in the ... Read This Story