Day 8 - Gettysburg and Amish Country

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.  It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.  It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before use – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. – Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, 1863

We started by visiting the Gettysburg Museum and watching a film on the historic battle and seeing the exhibits.

Many original artifacts were on display.

Inside the visitors center there is the large painting by Paul Philippoteaux named, “The Battle at Gettysburg.”  They told us how tall and long it was, but I can’t remember because I didn’t have pen to write it down.  This is an oil painting on canvas and it is the biggest one in the world.  It is so big it forms a circle around the room.

This is a Confederate cannon pointed at Little Round Top where the Union Army had it’s left flank.

Walking the battlefield of Gettysburg.

This is a monument is to the Maine 4^th Infantry who, on July 2, 1861 held the left flank until they were pushed back to Little Round Top.

The view from Little Round Top. The Confederate soldiers would have been at the tree line below.  Several times the grey coats would charge up the hill and each time, the Union soldiers would muster enough troops and munitions to stay their charge.  This was a very important piece of real estate to the Union Army. 

A quick pose with some Union Soldier and their cannon. 

About 30 yards to the south was a monument constructed for the 44^th N.Y. Infantry and it is built like a castle with small winding stairs.  It gave us a good view of the battlefield. There are total of 1,400 monuments on the Gettysburg battlefield.

Don’t trip while descending this monument's spiral staircase.

This is the Monument to Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, also called the Lincoln Speech Memorial. It is unique because it commemorates the speech Lincoln gave here and not the man himself. It is one of the few memorials in the world dedicated to honor a speech.  Lincoln was not the main speaker that day, it was Edward Everett who was a former governor, congressman, senator and secretary of state.  The invitation extended to Lincoln was to deliver, “…a few appropriate remarks.” 

By assignment, the 8^th grade class is to memorize the Gettysburg Address by the end of the Historic Studies Trip.  Here, they stand in front of the Lincoln Speech Memorial and recite the most famous speech in United States History.

Now, we are off to see the Amish country.  Anton poses in front of the pasture and farm houses typical of the Amish area.  Notice the lack of electrical wires or poles throughout the area.

We saw many of these horse drawn buggies throughout the countryside.

We met with one of Al’s good friends, Emanuel and Rachael Smuker, and they let us tour their farm.  They call themselves Amish-Mennonite because they are not in total compliance to the Amish way of life.  For example, Emanuel will drive a car and have a cell phone.    

They showed us how to milk a cow by hand and Seth had a try at it.  He did really well.

This is the area is between the barn and house.

Rebecca Parr and her mom pose for a picture with Emanuel and Rachael.

Emanuel is trying to convince Seth that he would be a good Amish farmer because Seth was a natural at milking the cow.

It was time to go so we headed to an old fashion Dutch smorgasbord named Miller’s.  It was fantastic!

Only a couple of days left!  We are off to Philadelphia and then to New York.  Hope all is well in California.  Until tomorrow, good night.