Family Day at Spangler

Join the Gettysburg Foundation for a free day of history and exploration at the George Spangler Farm & Field Hospital. The local community and visitors to Gettysburg are invited to experience history and explore the 80-acre historic George Spangler Farm & Field Hospital.

Family Day features family-friendly programming, including stories about the civilian role during and after the battle and the Spangler family, information about Civil War medicine with a Civil War Wheeling (Rosecrans) ambulance reproduction on display and a treat from local favorite Mr. G’s Old-fashioned Ice Cream.

Guests can interact with living historians on-site throughout the day:

• The Healing: Conversations Between Nurses North and South: A unique and moving portrayal of women who pioneered professional nursing and served during the American Civil War. True accounts based on diaries and first-person references reflect the profound impact Civil War nurses had on soldiers they treated that went beyond the battles and the war.
• Officers for the Union & Ladies for the Union: Portraying officers who commanded and fought in the Battle of Gettysburg, living historians provide first-person impressions, discuss their role before, during and after the Battle of Gettysburg, and give details about military life from the officers’ perspectives. The ladies demonstrate unique home craft skills of the period (bobbin lace, hand sewing and bandbox making) and display home remedies, medical practices and children’s toys of the era. They highlight the importance of the home front during the Civil War, support and aid for soldiers, and the effect the war had on families and communities.
• Colonel Roberts: Living historians bring joyful teachings of the simple pleasures and way of life for families during this difficult period in American history. Doll making, period games, fashions and activities of the time are brought to life, demonstrating pastimes that helped heal the brokenhearted and mend the fabric of the American family way of life during the Civil War era.
• Summer Kitchen Demonstrations: Living historians present 19^th century domestic life during the American Civil War and highlight the uses of the herbs in the garden growing at the historic site.

Historic Gettysburg-Adams County (HGAC) will be on-site presenting historic barn preservation. HGAC interprets the design, construction and use of the iconic Pennsylvania Bank Barn and discusses the restoration that revived the historic barn.

Free and open for the public to enjoy.

Guests may drive to the property located at 488 Blacksmith Shop Road, Gettysburg, where limited on-site parking will be available.