Gettysburg News

York area developer Robert Kinsley and a construction company owned by his son have been paid $8.5 million for their work in building the new Battlefield Visitor Center near Gettysburg.

Now that the first choice to replace departing Gettysburg Foundation President Robert C. Wilburn is out of the picture, the agency is starting its search from scratch.“They need to go back to the beginning,” says Gettysburg Battlefield Supt. John Latschar, the 15-year park boss who was originally tabbed to supplant Wilburn. “They came up with my name as the unanimous candidate. It was my understanding that they didn’t have other options on the list.”

On the advice of ethics officials, Gettysburg National Military Park Superintendent John Latschar has reversed his decision to leave his post and become president of the Gettysburg Foundation. 

By Elif Kaynak On a Thursday afternoon during the Civil War, merely four and a half months after the pivotal Battle of Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln uttered the first line of a speech that would become one of the greatest in U.S. history: “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

The Cyclorama building will be around at least long enough to witness the resolution of a lawsuit between Gettysburg National Military Park and a preservation group suing the government over the building's planned demolition. Park officials said in a letter to federal Judge Alan Kay that plans to demolish the structure in December will be postponed until a ruling is made on the case.

Now that Gettysburg National Military Park and its management partner have passed a new admissions package to offset a projected operational shortfall at the Battlefield Visitor Center, locals are left to wonder: What’s next?

As of today, the artifacts and exhibits at the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center are no longer available to the public for free. Instead, visitors will now be charged an all-in-one admission fee to explore museum exhibits, view a 22-minute film about the Battle of Gettysburg and see the newly restored Cyclorama painting.

When the Gettysburg National Military Park visitors center opened in April, officials there assured the public that its interactive and audio and video intensive, state-of-the-art museum would be free to all. Now the National Park Service is asking for public comment (until Sept. 29) on a proposal to charge admission fees of $5 to $7.50.

More than anything, Craig Lorden said, he is "saddened" by the possibility of a $7.50 admission fee becoming reality at the new Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center. The park's thousands of artifacts are what draw people to the new facility, and they should be available free of charge to the public, Lorden said.

A visit to Gettysburg National Military Park’s museum may no longer be priceless. The National Park Service and a nonprofit group that operates the museum have proposed charging admission fees of $5 to $7.50 per person.

There are only five known manuscripts of the famous Gettysburg Address, penned by President Abraham Lincoln — one of those original documents is scheduled to appear in Gettysburg, during the grand opening celebration of the new Gettysburg National Military Park Visitor Center.

GETTYSBURG, Pa. -- Standing just 150 feet from the platform on which President Abraham Lincoln delivered his most famous speech, one of the few remaining "witness trees" to the Battle of Gettysburg has been severely damaged by a storm, National Park Service officials said. The huge honey locust tree on Cemetery Hill fell Thursday evening.

GETTYSBURG, Pa. — Every night, tourists in this farming community, site of the bloodiest battle ever fought in North America, stroll city streets on commercial ghost tours. But visitors don't need to pay to hear about ghosts. They only need to walk the 6,000 acres of battlefields, or simply step inside the brilliant new visitor center. Ghosts are everywhere.

A new study shows that 1,054 acres of land within the Gettysburg National Military Park is unprotected from development. That's the private land within the park with its 6,000 acres of Civil War battleground.Co-founder Dean Shultz of the Adams County Land Conservancy says many people don't realize privately owned land inside the park can be developed in any way local municipalities permit. And the Gettysburg park spreads across five municipalities with a wide range of zoning.

A proposal to declare a 175-mile stretch from Monticello to Gettysburg a National Heritage Area has cleared its final legislative hurdle and awaits President Bush's signature. The House of Representatives voted Tuesday to grant the designation to the Journey Through Hallowed Ground, a corridor that encompasses parts of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. The Senate approved the measure last month.