History Hike

Gettysburg: Detail from the State of Virginia's monument
to its Confederate soldiers

Red-tailed Hawk at Gettysburg battlefield

Harper's Ferry, West Virginia

Possible future backpacking trip: Appalachian Trail from Harper's Ferry, WVA, to Gettysburg, PA (best done when autumn leaves are out)
A talk with a c0-worker a couple of days ago brought up Gettysburg, a place for which I have the fondest memories. I had the privilege of working there as a park ranger for the National Park Service during the summers of 1972 and 1973 while on break from college. I had such a great time giving talks to park visitors and answering their questions, visitors from every state and even foreign countries. Probably the best question asked of one of our rangers was from a youngster: "Did the soldiers hide behind the monuments during the battle?"

The vast Civil War battlefield park is situated in an agricultural area known for its orchards and fruit production, and the landscape setting is beautiful. There has been much effort in recent years toward restoring the battlefield to the way it was in July 1863 when the battle was fought. Orchards have been replanted, wooden fences erected, and friends of the park have steadily been buying out old businesses and buildings that encroached the battlefield and leveling them. The many stone walls that lace the battlefield, some probably there since the battle, are one of my favorite features of the site. Add to this the rolling hills, wheatfields, creeks, and rocks and boulders, and you have quite a setting, ideal for a hike off the Appalachian Trail.

When I was there the Gettysburg battlefield could get crowded during summer days, but at dusk, when traffic was light and things were quiet, the place would be eerie when a mist enveloped the fields and monuments and gave everything a ghostlike appearance. I haven't been to Gettysburg since my ranger days, but I'm anxious to go back there.

Harper's Ferry would be an ideal starting place on the Appalachian Trail for such a trip, the quaint, historic town and its old buildings being located at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers.