Category: History and Heritage

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.

Interactive experiences where kids can step directly into the past.

Highway of Heroes

As seen in the 2026 Destination Gettysburg Getaway Guide

Stretching more than 300 miles across the Commonwealth, Pennsylvania’s Highway of Heroes follows historic U.S. Route 30, the Lincoln Highway, America’s first transcontinental roadway. Traveling east to west from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, this meaningful route connects six nationally significant sites that together tell the story of courage, sacrifice, leadership, and freedom.

As the nation commemorates its 250th anniversary, Pennsylvania’s role in shaping America comes sharply into focus. Along this single road, visitors can trace the country’s journey from independence and endurance to unity, global ... Read This Story

Before The Battle

As seen in the 2026 Destination Gettysburg Getaway Guide

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 ... Read This Story

Behind the Glass: How Artifacts are Prepared for Display in Gettysburg

There’s a small army working behind the scenes at Gettysburg National Military Park Museum & Visitor Center.

Up to a dozen people prepare each artifact for display in the 1,000-plus piece collection that tells the story of Gettysburg’s epic Civil War battle. A stroll through the exhibits takes visitors on a journey back to 1863.

Artifacts come to the museum through archaeological efforts and donations from the public, according to museum curator Greg Goodell. Several steps are required before a historic object makes it to the exhibit before the visitor’s eyes.

Artifact conservators conduct conservation treatments. Depending on the piece, reversible varnish and ... Read This Story

Gettysburg’s Black History Featured at Local Museums

by: Tinsy Labrie

Books about Gettysburg’s history fill sections of libraries and bookstores. Just about every nuance of the fighting that took place during three days in July of 1863 has been carefully studied, mapped, curated, and presented by historians of world renown to weekend history buffs.

Still, there are other parts of local history that have been overlooked or underappreciated.

For generations of Gettysburg’s Black residents, maintaining and sharing the memories and stories of their people became the responsibility of family historians. Without their tenacious quest to keep those stories alive, most of Gettysburg’s Black history might have ... Read This Story

Battlefield Vantage Points

The Gettysburg Battlefield spans nearly 6,000 acres. From monuments and wayside markers to distinctive boulders and undulating ridges, there is a lot to see and learn while exploring the battlefield.

Countless locations on the battlefield provide vantage points that not only offer valuable insight into the military positions of both the Union and Confederate armies, but also showcase incredible vistas of this historic and hallowed land.

Join us as we discover some of the best vantage points on the Gettysburg Battlefield.

The Stories of Gettysburg’s Black Citizens

The American Civil War left quite an impression on Gettysburg, even though our history touches on so many ... Read This Story