Big Round Top

Big Round Top
— Great Round Top Round Top Mountain — Sugar Loaf Hill[3]
landform: Top (Hill)
1863 O'Sullivan image of Big Round Top beyond Little Round Top breastworks
Country	United States
State	Pennsylvania
County	Adams
NPS unit	Gettysburg National Military Park
Part of	outcrop of Gettysburg sill
Saddle point	NE slope @ Little Round Top
- elevation	582.7 ft (177.6 m)
- coordinates	39°47′21.44″N 77°14′12.53″W / 39.7892889°N 77.2368139°W / 39.7892889; -77.2368139Coordinates: 39°47′21.44″N 77°14′12.53″W / 39.7892889°N 77.2368139°W / 39.7892889; -77.2368139
Summit	near historic tower ruins
- elevation	793.6 ft (241.9 m)
- coordinates	39°47′10.73″N 77°14′21.15″W / 39.7863139°N 77.2392083°W / 39.7863139; -77.2392083
Lowest point	base of Big Round Top spur
- location	W of summit, N of stone bridge
- elevation	495 ft (150.9 m)
Biome	Northern Piedmont ecoregion, Northeastern forest
Geology	Pennsylvania Piedmont physiographic region, Gettysburg-Newark Lowlands (York Haven Diabase)
Orogeny	200 mya (Tr-J boundary)
Management	National Park Service
Owner	Federal government of the United States
Access	parking area: S Confederate Av summit: paved foot trail
Nearest community	Round Top, Pennsylvania
Website: Gettysburg Scenic Vistas (nps.gov)

External images

monuments

bas-relief of "Farnsworth's Charge"

view from 300' National Tower

Round Top Mountain — Sugar Loaf Hill[3]

Big Round Top is a boulder-strewn hill notable as the topographic high point of the Gettysburg Battlefield and for 1863 American Civil War engagements for which Medals of Honor were awarded. In addition to battle monuments, a historic structure on the uninhabited hill is the Big Round Top Observation Tower Foundation Ruin.

Big Round Top is the southern peak of the Gettysburg Battlefield and is within the area encompassed by a drainage depression (southeast, south), Plum Run (west, north), and the Crawford Rd/Wright Av roadway (north, northeast). In addition to Little Round Top, adjacent battlefield locations are South Cavalry Field/Slyder Field (west), Devil's Den (northwest) and the Valley of Death/Slaughter Pen (north). The hill is the highest point of an Adams County dendritic ridge which Plum Run divides at Big Round Top (the drainage divide continues to the east). In addition to Little Round Top (650), nearby heights are Warfield Ridge (west), hills of ~580 ft (southwest) and ~540 ft (northwest), and Houck Ridge (); while Carr Hill (876 ft) is the nearest higher hill. "Devil's Kitchen" is rock formation and small cave on the lower slopes of Big Round Top.