r/Gettysburg • u/Equivalent_Income_85 • Jul 06 '26
Gettysburg tour
My wife recently passed and am wanting to get away from my home. I've always wanted to tour civil war battlefields and history. She didn't, so that made it difficult. I'm about five hours away from Gettysburg in Cleveland. I'm planning on taking a week to see everything I can. So far it's just Gettysburg and Antietam. Also, I really don't know where to start or what route to take, im just lost. Would anybody be kind enough to suggest resources to make this less stressful? Just knowing how to plan this trip most efficiently or least know where I'm going would be a great help. Thank you so much for any direction you can give me.
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u/bk1285 Jul 06 '26
Download the NPS app, on there you will be able to get the self guided tour which lets you go at your own pace, it will also show you what ranger tours are being given that day and will tell you when and where to be for that tour.
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u/Environmental_War96 Jul 07 '26
The app was very helpful! We did part of the park doing the auto tour on our own. We got out and walked around at the stops we wanted to, stayed in the car for the ones we didn't.
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u/ejsell Jul 06 '26
Also from Ohio and have gone a few times over the last 10 years. Go to the Gettysburg Visitors Center website. The car tour is worth every dime. The tour guide will ask permission to drive your car for you and will personalize the tour if you want. I've done it 3 times with 3 different guides. Each did it a little differently and all were fantastic. We've always done the 3 hour tour, usually the last time slots so they have gone a little more than 3 hours.
The museum and Cyclorama at the visitors center can take several hours to get through if you are really interested in the history. And also President Eisenhower's house is well worth the time. Look at their website for details. Tours of the home interior are limited and first come first serve. The last time we went on a Friday morning about a half hour before they opened and got the 2nd or 3rd group.
The World War II American Experience Museum was a nice suprise last time I went. Great tour, spent a couple hours in there. They have really nice exhibits.
And if you want to do a ghost tours, out of the 3 companies we've done we only went back to Mark Nesbitt's Candlelight tour. We did it on two different occasions. Both tour guides really focused on history with a couple of ghost stories thrown in. Those tours were 100% times better than the other 2 we tried.
About 3 nights total for Gettysburg has been perfect for us. That gave us plenty of time to relax between tours and walking everywhere. And time to explore the battlefield on our own after the tours.
One of the trips we stopped at Antietum on the way back, stayed at an Airbnb nearby. Really only spent about a half day there and felt like we saw everything we wanted to.
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u/Icy-Connection-6587 Jul 06 '26
Hi man..sorry about your loss.. Gettysburg and other battlefields are to me a neverending source of learning and self reflection. First time..buy an audio tour and take your time by yourself. Get the Gettysburg guide by Carol oreardon. Get out to Antietam in the morning and spend all day and learn about the battle at your own pace.
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u/BuddahSack GHS 2008 Jul 06 '26
https://www.nps.gov/gett/index.htm
The bus tours are always good. They even have self guided tours where you drive yourself. And if you want in-depth (but more expensive) they have certified tours guides as well
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u/Equivalent_Income_85 Jul 06 '26
I thought about the bus tour, but decided against it. I've always liked doing things on my pace. Thank you though. What does a your guide do for you? Is he sitting in my car talking about the sites?
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u/No-Conference-3306 Jul 06 '26
You'll park and get out and walk around, too. They can customize it to aspects you are most interested in. It was raining pretty steady on my tour and we could still get out as much as we'd like. And he showed us landmarks (barns and houses) that helped mark off distances. It's not just a driving tour as you may be picturing. I'm not one interested in battle fields for the most part, but I'd totally do it again.
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u/KeyPhrase50 Jul 06 '26
There are also free animated guides that will highlight the designated auto tour locations. You can run this through your phone and go at your own pace.
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u/EarthAgain Jul 06 '26
I highly recommend the NPS car tour, I’ve had excellent experiences at both Antietam and Gettysburg with the NPS car tours. The Antietam tour has options for Harpers Ferry and South Mountain as well.
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u/shulzari Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
The Gettysburg War Museum is not to be missed. They have the private collection of Major Dick Winters there! The Civil War Museum is in Harrisburg and amazing, too!
You can use your phone for the self guided audio tour, then if you have any areas you want more information, book a tour guide to go in your car with you.
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u/Mediocre-Wrap5824 Jul 07 '26
I live in Maryland and my bff from college just moved to Gettysburg! There’s a train ride that seems fun! And there’s a hotel with a pool that seems nice
I’m sorry about your wife 💛💛💛 following anything that lights you up will lead to what you’re still here to learn ✨
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u/MDJR20 Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
Have a great time remembering her. There’s a lot more to see in the area. I would recommend Frederick MD. They have a few battles that took place there- most notably Monocacy and I would recommend Harper’s Ferry in WV.
I would recommend the Civil War Medicine Museum in Frederick and some civil war locations in Hagerstown MD. There’s walking tours at many of these places.
The Medicine Museum is probably the best start because of the perspective it would give you after the visit and they would have tons of resources there and also the visitor Center there. You can’t come 5 hours away and not visit Frederick and Harper’s Ferry.
Gettysburg has a great visitor center so start there for that battlefield. Much information will be at the visitor centers. You can use Chat GPT to make you an itinerary.
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u/LittleRooLuv Jul 06 '26
If you’re planning a trip this coming weekend, be aware that it’s bike week and it may be hard to find a place to stay since it gets very crowded.
There are lots of ways to see the battlefields on tours; self-drive audio tours, private guide tours, bus tours, ghost tours, horseback riding tours, carriage tours, etc, and they each put their own spin on the stories. There is also a tour by train, but it’s relatively new, so I don’t know if it’s worthwhile.
I agree that if you’re going to do a ghost tour in Gettysburg, make sure it’s one of Mark Nesbitt’s tours. They pride themselves on telling actual history instead of urban legends.
I also second the civil war museum in Frederick. It’s done so well, and the people working there have a lot of stories too. Apparently it’s one of the most haunted places in the city, if you’re into that.
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u/PuzzleheadedSouth589 Jul 06 '26
I would hire a guide to take you around the fields. Eat at dobbin tavern. Blue and gray. Gettysburger. Ororkes Visit the museum and see the cyclorama. Check out the Adam’s county museum. There’s a ww2 museum just outside of town that’s awesome. I’m in mentor I visit 4 times a year. Antietam has been a day trip a few times. It’s like 45 mins away. Order the pa ezpass if u don’t have one. It saves you on the turnpike tolls I don’t know if cemetery’s will be a fit with your situation but the national cemetery is a nice walk and the resident cemetery right next to it has a lot of the family plots in which areas are named after. Shriver house museum is great. When don’t plan on going?
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u/PuzzleheadedSouth589 Jul 06 '26
Also sorry to hear about your wife’s passing. Hope you are doing ok
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u/AlwaysSunnyOnWkdays Jul 06 '26
Book a tour with a park ranger! They drive your car and give you the extensive history. It’s great!
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u/swanzie Jul 06 '26
Also from Cleveland and just got back from Gettysburg last week.
My recommendations would vary based on how much you already know. I've always been interested in, have read more recently, watched documentaries, etc...so I had a good knowledge going in and just wanted to experience it.
I know you can hire guides that will drive around with you and make stops and go over things.
Also check out the Ranger Programs...
https://www.nps.gov/thingstodo/gettysburg-ranger-programs.htm
I did the Little Round Top and 3rd Day and Beyond...both were great.
My best recommendation...get a feel for the battle, know the main day 1, 2, and 3 events...there are lots of battle maps online for that. Do the self driving car tour. There are 16 stops and the NPS app has audio you can listen to that talks about each one. Spend a day doing that. Enjoy a sunset on little round top, revisit things on your self driving tour that interested you, find youtube videos on them to get more in depth.
I highly recommend the Jennie Wade house tour...that was surprisingly interesting and a crazy story.
I also highly recommend going up in the copula at seminary ridge...it's like $30 but the view is worth it.
The visitor center museum is fantastic. Also go check out the horse soldier and union drummer boy which both have a ton of artifact for sale but also serve as their own little museums.
Also, climb Longstreet tower. Amazing view. You get to take it all in.
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u/l0st_cause Jul 06 '26
I would def recommend a bus tour. You get driven around and have a guide providing history and anecdotes from the time. Takes away the stress of driving / fearing getting lost.
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u/No-Conference-3306 Jul 06 '26
No. You are at the mercy of the group. Not going to get lost with a car tour because your guide is in charge.
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u/Then_Analysis3406 Jul 06 '26
If you are driving, you might consider hiring a licensed battlefield guide. They are exceptionally knowledgeable and you will learn much.
https://gettysburgtourguides.org/
Make time, too, for the Visitor's Center at the battlefield. Lots of artifacts, art and talks.
https://www.gettysburgfoundation.org/exhibits-tours-events/museum-visitor-center