Marcum Memories

August 26: Because we had a short drive today, we didn't rush to leave Gettysburg, and wew on the road before 10:30 am. Our drive to Virginia, the Pohick Bay Regional Park Campground, was uneventful. Only a couple of minor slow downs due to road repair or construction. The campground is beautifully set in the trees making it nearly impossible to use our Starlink - oh, well. The temperature and humidity are nasty and are going to get worse making sightseeing difficult for us. With my MS, I can't heat for any length of time and should not overheat my body, it makes me weak. We did a little shopping this afternoon after we took a short nap. Got only one photo today, of our campsite.

August 25: The weather has been getting progressively hotter as the days go by and we travel south and today was no exception - in the high 80s and quite humid. We signed up for a carriage ride to Culp Hill but unfortunately, we didn't get to go there because the park service closed the hill because roads were being repaved. We enjoyed our ride nonetheless. The battle of Gettysburg was fought around several ridges/hills - Herr Ridge, McPherson Ridge and Seminary Ridge, Cemetery Hill, Culp Hill. Afterwards, we visited the Sachs Covered Bridge, I've always wished to visit a covered bridge but because of its age, it does not allow vehicular traffic.   

August 24: Today, we ate breakfast at a food truck (trailer) that serves food over the weekend ending with Sunday breakfast. It was nice to chat with locals while we enjoyed our meal. Afterwards, we went into town to take a 2 hour bus tour guided by a certified NPS guide. He was very knowledgeable about the events of the 3 day (massacre) civil war, most of which I don't remember but that information is available online (reader be aware). The National Park Service unit manages 1,320 monuments and markers, 410 cannons, 148 historic buildings, and 41 miles (66 km) of roads (8 miles of them, unpaved). The largest concentration of monuments is at the Gettysburg National Cemetery, where President Abraham Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address. There are 1,328 monuments, memorials, markers, and plaques on the battlefield that commemorate and memorialize the men who fought and died during the Battle of Gettysburg and continue to reflect how that battle has been remembered by different generat...

August 23: We are still in PA, in Gettysburg to be exact. Today we visited the Gettysburg Heritage Center which housed many exhibits showing life sized exhibits, movies and pictures generated from 3D slides created over a hundred years ago. We watched a video in a theater that had life-sized characters frozen in time depicting what might have taken place during the 3-day battle. This town is filled to the brim with monuments, plaques and old buildings. Of the several thousand original buildings from the time of the civil war, about 150 still stand are in use. We had a late lunch/early dinner at a local pub and went grocery shopping before returning to the campground.