Hi All,

Looks like this will kick things off for this topic. Our Troop is planning a trip to Gettysburg over the Columbus day weekend. 3 Days of doing the heratage trail and touring the battlefields, and town.  I will keep you up to date as we work this trip.

Thanks for the tips Jerry and SMWalker. I have been to Gettysburg 3 times (once as a scout wandering the fields) and most of the things you talk about we will be doing. I have  the DVD of the movie and we are planning a movie night. And I have read the Killer Angels and I have the audio book on my iPod. Tomorrow (July 3) is the 146th anniversary of Pickets Charge.

I also have the driving tour CD of the battlefields.  I think we may listen to that on the way there. There is also the new visitor's center to check out.

We will not be camping on the battlefield but will be in a cabin at a local scout camp.

I'll post more as we plan it out.

Tom

OGO,

We'll be at Tuckahoe. The troop has stayed at Conewago in the past, but they were already booked for the weekend we're going.

Other new is that we are booked into the new visitor center and all it has to offer. We're also going to visit Ike's homestead.

ScouterTom

Bryan,

Planning for the trip takes some doing. First off is where to stay and when. There is an option for Scout units to camp on the Battlefield. This is done though a lottery in January & Feburary of that year. You can find info on the park's website.  The local council also has two camps about 30 minutes from town. We stayed in a cabin at Camp Tuckahoe and enjoyed it, the little bit were were there. These can book up fast for popular weekend so pre-planning is a must. There are also several private campgrounds in the area.

The York-Adams Council is responsible for the hike guides and the awards. Gettysburg is a 5 hour drive for us so we ended up staying for 3 days. You really do need at least 2 full days in town to do all the activities for the award. Two major hikes (6 – 10 miles), in town, the vistor center and the Eisenhower National Historic Site.

I suggest you start with the visitor center.  This is brand new in 2008 and is NOTHING like the old one. I also suggest going to the Cyclorama (also newly updated!). These are both ticketed events and worth it for the boys to get a feel for the space.

We also did a Ghost walk that did not impress me, but maybe it was the tour. We did have time after the tour for hitting the battlefield at night.  THAT was something else. Just the feeling of history can be overwhelming at times.

We did eat one meal in town. At "General Picketts All You Can Eat Buffet". Not bad food and a good way to fill up hungry scouts.

The Eisenhower tour (also ticketed) has nothing to do with the Civil war and as most of the boys haveing no idea who he was it was kind of flat.

Tom

PS: Here's some links to help with the planning.

York Adams Council

Gettysburg National Millitary Park

General Picketts Buffet

Hey guys another thought is the sharpsburg/antietem battle field. it is about 40 min from gettysburg. there are spots for the boys to camp on the battle field. It doesn't have the glamour of "Gettysburg" but it is just as awesome. . If you have trouble finding a site at Tuchahoe there is another camp just north of tuckahoe (30 min) in the Keystone area council, called Hidden Valley. The national Civil war museum is located in Harrisburg, PA not far from there.
It gets very crowed there just prior to a Jamboree. I was taking a class there the week before the last one and there had to 50+ troops a day going through the town.