Four Score and Twelve Years Before Disneyland
Stuart Nachbar
December 19, 2008
Last week I was working from the road in Gettysburg, visiting America´s most famous small town during the tourist´s off-season. I am working on a novel based there, and wanted to see how the town looks when it is "closed down."
Gettysburg is most famous for the epic Civil War battle that left fifty to sixty thousand Union and Confederate troops killed or wounded. It was a necessary place for battle because of the road network from Baltimore to Harrisburg. Last year, a Licensed Town Guide told me that, had the Confederates won the battle, they would have advanced on Harrisburg, taking a northern capital city, and improving their chances of winning the war.
But I will not be writing a tale of a Civil War battle, but a tale of a tourist town that has had dual responsibilities of hosting presidents, most recently George W. Bush, and protecting national history. Gettysburg was a tourist destination even before the end of the Civil War; battlefield tours were conducted shortly after President Lincoln dedicated the National Cemetery. In later years there would be guided tours on horseback, trolley cars on the battlefield, and a futuristic observation tower that, from a distance, resembled the CN Tower in Toronto. Thankfully, that tower was demolished eight years ago.
If you visit Disney World and do not stay in the park, the roads to the Magic Kingdom are lined with t-shirt and memorabilia shops as well as all-you-can-eat buffets. Entrepreneurial thinkers also make their own attractions to get their own piece of the tourist trade. But Disney World is surrounded by large cities and is better known as a post-season destination for Super Bowl MVPs than politicians. Gettysburg, by contrast, is home to less than ten thousand people, counting college students. It would be safe to guess that, proportionately, Gettysburg has more tourist shops per capita than any town surrounding Disney World. And the town has Pickett´s Charge, its all-season all-you-can-eat buffet.
And in Gettysburg, unlike Disney Land, the federal government operates the major tourist attractions through the National Park Service. The NPS opened a new visitor´s center last month and they did a fantastic job! It´s possible to spend half a day there before venturing onto the battlefield, or into the National Cemetery. You see an excellent film narrated by Morgan Freeman as well as a thoroughly researched self-guided museum chronology of the battle and the aftermath. You also see the fully-restored Cyclorama, the circular historical display of the battle. The NPS got everything right, including the restaurant and gift shop/bookstore. The store is very serious competition with the town, however, the markets for antiques and artifacts and ghost tours are solely with the locals.
But more of Gettysburg history is coming downtown. The Wills House, where Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg Address is being restored, and the train station where Lincoln arrived in Gettysburg is already restored. Chain businesses are not prevalent downtown, although a PNC Bank branch got a space near the town square that had been previously occupied by a local bank. Gettysburg College bought the downtown´s movie theatre and raised monies to complete its´ restoration.
Downtown Gettysburg is as period as a nineteenth century town can be in the twenty first century. But the outskirts outside the monuments were theme park five score and twelve years before Disneyland.
Contact Stuart Nachbar at http://www.EducatedQuest.com , a blog on education politics, policy and technology or read about his first book, The Sex Ed Chronicles, a novel on education and politics in 1980 New Jersey, at http://www.SexEdChronicles.com .
Gettysburg is most famous for the epic Civil War battle that left fifty to sixty thousand Union and Confederate troops killed or wounded. It was a necessary place for battle because of the road network from Baltimore to Harrisburg. Last year, a Licensed Town Guide told me that, had the Confederates won the battle, they would have advanced on Harrisburg, taking a northern capital city, and improving their chances of winning the war.
But I will not be writing a tale of a Civil War battle, but a tale of a tourist town that has had dual responsibilities of hosting presidents, most recently George W. Bush, and protecting national history. Gettysburg was a tourist destination even before the end of the Civil War; battlefield tours were conducted shortly after President Lincoln dedicated the National Cemetery. In later years there would be guided tours on horseback, trolley cars on the battlefield, and a futuristic observation tower that, from a distance, resembled the CN Tower in Toronto. Thankfully, that tower was demolished eight years ago.
If you visit Disney World and do not stay in the park, the roads to the Magic Kingdom are lined with t-shirt and memorabilia shops as well as all-you-can-eat buffets. Entrepreneurial thinkers also make their own attractions to get their own piece of the tourist trade. But Disney World is surrounded by large cities and is better known as a post-season destination for Super Bowl MVPs than politicians. Gettysburg, by contrast, is home to less than ten thousand people, counting college students. It would be safe to guess that, proportionately, Gettysburg has more tourist shops per capita than any town surrounding Disney World. And the town has Pickett´s Charge, its all-season all-you-can-eat buffet.
And in Gettysburg, unlike Disney Land, the federal government operates the major tourist attractions through the National Park Service. The NPS opened a new visitor´s center last month and they did a fantastic job! It´s possible to spend half a day there before venturing onto the battlefield, or into the National Cemetery. You see an excellent film narrated by Morgan Freeman as well as a thoroughly researched self-guided museum chronology of the battle and the aftermath. You also see the fully-restored Cyclorama, the circular historical display of the battle. The NPS got everything right, including the restaurant and gift shop/bookstore. The store is very serious competition with the town, however, the markets for antiques and artifacts and ghost tours are solely with the locals.
But more of Gettysburg history is coming downtown. The Wills House, where Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg Address is being restored, and the train station where Lincoln arrived in Gettysburg is already restored. Chain businesses are not prevalent downtown, although a PNC Bank branch got a space near the town square that had been previously occupied by a local bank. Gettysburg College bought the downtown´s movie theatre and raised monies to complete its´ restoration.
Downtown Gettysburg is as period as a nineteenth century town can be in the twenty first century. But the outskirts outside the monuments were theme park five score and twelve years before Disneyland.
Contact Stuart Nachbar at http://www.EducatedQuest.com , a blog on education politics, policy and technology or read about his first book, The Sex Ed Chronicles, a novel on education and politics in 1980 New Jersey, at http://www.SexEdChronicles.com .
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