Because of what happened in 1863, the town is well-suited for America250-themed itineraries. Gettysburg is one of the year’s hottest tourist destinations.
By Randy Mink, Senior Editor
As the nation celebrates its 250th anniversary of independence in 2026, the small Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg is taking center stage along with Philadelphia, Boston, New York and Washington, D.C.
While Philadelphia can claim to be the birthplace of American democracy, it’s said the great experiment in self-government was saved on the fields of Gettysburg when Federal troops emerged victorious in what proved to be a turning point in the Civil War. The pivotal Battle of Gettysburg has played a key role in America’s story, and President Lincoln’s immortal Gettysburg Address, given four months later on the site where soldiers died, endures as one of the most famous speeches of all time.
The Lincoln Address Memorial at Soldiers’ National Cemetery commemorates the speech that became known as the Gettysburg Address. (Randy Mink Photo)
Start Your Tour on Sacred Ground
Gettysburg abounds with historical attractions, none more important than Gettysburg National Military Park. Nearly 1,400 statues, sculptures, markers and tablets stand where Union and Confederate armies fought for the soul of the nation from July 1-3, 1863.
With more than 51,000 soldiers dead, wounded or missing, the battle was the bloodiest ever on American soil. Roughly 7,000 men died, and perhaps hundreds of them lie under the battlefield today. The grounds can be visited by car, tour bus, bicycle and foot.
The park’s Pennsylvania Memorial, its largest monument, honors Union soldiers who fought on their native land. The Goddess of Victory and Peace, sculpted from melted bronze cannon, adorns the top of the dome. Visitors can climb to the observation deck via a narrow staircase.
Also impressive is the Virginia Memorial, which features Confederate General Robert E. Lee mounted on his horse Traveller. At first the only monuments paid tribute to Union soldiers, but Southern state memorials were built between 1917 and 1984.
The Lincoln Address Memorial resides just inside the gate of Soldiers’ National Cemetery, another must-see in the military park. In just over two minutes at the cemetery’s dedication on November 19, 1863, Lincoln honored fallen Union soldiers, redefined the war as a struggle for human equality, and called for a “new birth of freedom” to ensure that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
The Cyclorama oil painting at Gettysburg National Military Park’s museum/visitor center dramatically depicts Pickett’s Charge in the epic Civil War battle.
Putting the Civil War in Focus
At the park’s museum and visitor center, stories of the Civil War come alive through rare artifacts, interactive exhibits and the film A New Birth of Freedom. Don’t miss the Battle of Gettysburg Cyclorama, a 360-degree, hand-painted canvas depicting Pickett’s Charge in dramatic detail. Created in 1884 and fully restored from 2004-2008, the painting-in-the-round is longer than a football field and taller than a four-story building. The battle tableau is complete with marching troops, men fighting with bayonets, cannon smoke, and ground littered with canteens, shoes, broken wheels, and dead soldiers and horses. A sound-and-light show with narration enhances the experience.
Tens of thousands of spectators are expected to attend the annual Battle of Gettysburg Re-enactment at the Historic Daniel Lady Farm from July 3-5, 2026, one of the town’s premier America250 events. Guests can visit Union and Confederate military camps, view artillery and cavalry demonstrations, and tour the farmhouse and barn that served as Confederate field hospitals. The house bears blood-stained floors, and the barn has authenticated initials carved during the battle. Each day ends in a full-scale battle scenario.
For an inside look at what Gettysburg townspeople experienced during the Civil War, group planners should fit Gettysburg Beyond the Battle Museum into their itineraries. Voted Best New Museum in the country by USA Today readers soon after opening in 2023, it offers memorable first-hand accounts of citizens who lived through the battle and its aftermath. Caught in the Crossfire, a dark, noisy, immersive experience, puts guests in a typical home of the time as gunfire, artillery shelling and chaos came to the doorsteps of Gettysburg residents.
Museum-goers learn that carnage littered every street, field and barnyard. Next to a picture of dead horses, a passage from a New York Times reporter reads, “Within 25 yards of the door of a small house, I counted 15 dead horses, some of them with their entrails exposed in the most disgusting manner….and [there was] a most horrific odor proceeding from them which the winds carried to a great distance.”
To earn money by selling war relics to visitors, residents sent their children to scour the fields for guns, bullets, uniform buttons and personal effects from the dead and wounded. The scars of battle remained for decades.
One museum gallery chronicles Lincoln’s visit to Gettysburg, including townfolks’ reactions. On a wall with their stories is this observation from a 13-year-old boy: “I had heard that Mr. Lincoln was the homeliest man in the country, but when my eyes beheld that sad but kindly countenance, those strong rugged features seemed handsome to me.”
The farmhouse at Eisenhower National Historic Site served as a second White House. (Photo credit: Destination Gettysburg)
For Fans of 20th Century History
Eisenhower National Historic Site, adjacent to the Civil War battlefield, preserves the Gettysburg farm where President Dwight Eisenhower lived with his wife Mamie.
Purchased by General and Mrs. Eisenhower in 1950 after a 30-year military career that took them around the world, the farm is the only home they ever owned. They expected it to be their retirement home. But after Ike was persuaded to be the Republican presidential candidate and got elected by a landslide in 1952, it became a second White House and hosted world leaders.
Eisenhower, a Kansas farm boy, first lived in Gettysburg during World War I when he was in charge of the Army’s fledgling tank corps at Camp Colt. He went on to become Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe during World War II, leading the Allies to victory against Nazi Germany. In his post-White House years, Ike kept an office at Gettysburg College.
After a short orientation talk by a National Park Service ranger, guests take a self-guided tour through the farmhouse, which looks pretty much as the Eisenhowers left it. The living room showcases gifts from heads of state, such as a black lacquer, mother-of-pearl coffee table from the president of South Korea and a silk Tabriz rug from the Shah of Iran. Mamie’s makeup and perfume are still on the table in her dressing room, her night gown draped over the chair.
The glassed-in porch was the couple’s favorite room. Here Ike and Mamie watched TV, played cards with friends, visited with the grandchildren and ate on tray tables. Ike also pursued his hobby of oil painting in the room. Of the 260 works he did on the farm, several are displayed throughout the house.
In the backyard are a putting green (Ike was an avid golfer) and the brick barbecue patio where he grilled steaks from his show herd of prize-winning Black Angus cattle. Corn, vegetables and cattle are still raised on this working farm.
Annual events at the farm include the World War II Weekend in September.
More mid-20th century history surfaces at the World War II American Experience, one of Gettysburg’s newer attractions. Housed in a cavernous building are restored tanks, trucks, uniforms, helmets, food ration boxes, captured Japanese flags and other memorabilia. For groups, catered meals can be arranged in a private room or next to vehicles inside the exhibit hall.
Hollabaugh Bros. Farm & Fruit Market in Biglerville, PA, just outside of Gettysburg. (Randy Mink Photo)
Seeing the Gettysburg Countryside
In pastoral Adams County, one of America’s most prolific apple-growing regions, tourists enjoy pick-your-own opportunities and shopping at farm markets. Biglerville’s Hollabaugh Bros. Farm & Fruit Market, in its third generation of family ownership, grows 50+ varieties of apples and more than 30 types of peaches. Its scratch bakery turns out apple and peach dumplings and pies, apple cider donuts, apple cinnamon bread and other goodies. From May to October, there is something to pick, from strawberries and blueberries to peaches, pears, apples and pumpkins. Treat yourself to their famous apple cider donut milkshake.
From downtown’s 1884 Gettysburg and Harrisburg Railroad Depot, a new excursion train passes by orchards and the battlefield. Gettysburg Railway’s renovated 1950s railcars, once used by Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, offer cushy seats, air-conditioning, restrooms, a cafe car and GPS-triggered narration on the 90-minute ride to Biglerville and back. Discounts are available for groups of 15 or more, and a group can have one of the 53-seat cars all to itself. Catered food and beverage options range from boxed meals and charcuterie boards to wine and cheese tastings.
Launched in September 2025, Gettysburg Railway is part of Patriot Rail Excursions, which also operates Georgia’s Blue Ridge Scenic Railway and New Hampshire’s Granite State Railway and Winnipesaukee Railway.
Mr. Ed’s Elephant Museum & Candy Emporium, a tourist favorite in Orrtanna, Pennsylvania. (Randy Mink Photo)
Mister Ed’s Elephant Museum & Candy Emporium
A landmark on U.S. Route 30 in Orrtanna, Mister Ed’s Elephant Museum & Candy Emporium claims a collection of 12,000-plus elephant items, many of them on display in the free-admission museum wing. At this third-generation family-owned business located between Gettysburg and Chambersburg, you’ll see cookie jars, stuffed animals, rattan elephant tables, ceramic figurines, artwork, the list goes on.
On signs titled Pachyderm Points, fun facts about elephants shed light on the largest land mammal. Did you know that an elephant creates one ton of poop per week? Or that an elephant’s trunk has 40,000 muscles? A pregnancy lasts 22 months.
It’s hard to walk out of Mister Ed’s without buying something sweet. Among 1,200 candy varieties are 400 candy bars from around the world. Bagged and boxed candies include circus peanuts, gum drops and malted milk balls. Guests can create their own selection from loose hard candies like root beer barrels, Bit o’ Honey and Mary Janes. Other nostalgia items from yesteryear include bubble gum cigars, candy cigarettes and Pez. Don’t miss the impressive display of Pez dispensers in a truck attached to the building.
The store roasts Virginia peanuts every week in an antique roaster, and it makes more than 100 fudge flavors, from peaches and cream to dark chocolate caramel sea salt.
Mister Ed’s whimsical gardens feature water-squirting elephant sculptures and yard ornaments like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. A teapot museum counts more than 200 pots.
Pennsylvania Memorial at Gettysburg National Military Park. (Photo credit: Destination Gettysburg)
Pennsylvania’s Highway of Heroes
Highway of Heroes, a year-long initiative organized by tourism partners across southern Pennsylvania, highlights six places along a commemorative trail that follows the historic Lincoln Highway (U.S. Route 30).
The nationally significant destinations, poised for increased visitation as America observes its 250th anniversary, include Gettysburg National Military Park and Eisenhower National Historic Site. The others are Independence National Historical Park, Philadelphia; Valley Forge National Historical Park, Valley Forge; Flight 93 National Memorial, Shanksville; and Fort Pitt Museum at Point State Park, Pittsburgh.
Through March 2027, visitors who check in at the six sites will receive a commemorative display of six challenge coins.
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Lead Photo – Gettysburg National Military Park. (Randy Mink Photo)
