Gettysburg National Military Park
| Gettysburg National Military Park Gettysburg National Park (1893) Gettysburg Park |
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IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
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The 2008 sign for the PA 134 (west) Visitor Center entrance is a National Park Service rustic structure built to appear as if the base wall and column are of Gettysburg Granite, a locally-quarried material in structures during the Battle of Gettysburg.
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| Nearest city | Gettysburg, Pennsylvania |
| Coordinates | 39°48′31″N 77°14′12″W / 39.80861°N 77.23667°WCoordinates: 39°48′31″N 77°14′12″W / 39.80861°N 77.23667°W |
| Area | 3,965 acres (16.05 km2) (as of 2009) 1963: 2,871 acres 1932: 2,530 acres 1916: ~2,302 acres 1900: 1,221 acres 1888: 540 acres |
| Established |
1966: added to NRHP (#66000642) 1895: national park designation 1893: federal protection 1864: GBMA protection 1863: initial protection |
| Visitors | 1,031,554 (in 2010) |
| Governing body | 1933: National Park Service 1896: War Department 1864: Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association |
| Website | Gettysburg National Military Park |
The Gettysburg National Military Park protects and interprets the landscape of the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. Located in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the park is managed by the National Park Service. The GNMP properties include most of the Gettysburg Battlefield, many of the battle's support areas during the battle (e.g., reserve, supply, & hospital locations), and several other non-battle areas associated with the battle's "aftermath and commemoration", including the Gettysburg National Cemetery. Many of the park's 43,000 American Civil War artifacts are displayed in the Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center.
The park has more wooded land than in 1863, and the National Park Service has an ongoing program to restore portions of the battlefield to their historical non-wooded conditions, as well as to replant historic orchards and woodlots that are now missing. In addition, the NPS is restoring native plants to meadows and edges of roads, to encourage habitat as well as provide for historic landscape. There are also considerably more roads and facilities for the benefit of tourists visiting the battlefield park.
In 1915, the "National Park Commission" tested the battlefield guides and, due to the limited knowledge (particularly of the most experienced, e.g., only 1 in 8 could name the 7 avenues), established a school for licensing tour guides to charge fees.
The 1864 Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association and later veteran's associations acquired land for memorials and preservation (e.g., the 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry Monument tract with the statuary memorial depicted on the 2011 America the Beautiful Quarter dollar). Federal acquisition of land that would become the 1895 national park began on June 7, 1893, with 9 monument tracts of 625 sq ft (58.1 m2) each and a larger 10th lot of 1.2 acres (4,900 m2) from the Association, as well as 0.275 acres (1,110 m2) from Samuel M Bushman. In addition to land purchases, federal eminent domain takings include the Gettysburg Electric Railway right-of-ways in 1917 (cf. 1896 United States v. Gettysburg Electric Ry. Co.). Donated land included 160 acres from the 1959 Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association and 264 acres (107 ha) from the W. Alton Jones Foundation. The Gettysburg Foundation "is a private, nonprofit educational organization working in partnership with the National Park Service to enhance the preservation and understanding of the heritage and lasting significance of Gettysburg" (e.g., the Foundation leased a facility in 1999 for NPS use to rehabilitate cannon-carriages.) In February 2009, The David Wills House where Lincoln completed his Gettysburg Address was added to the national park by Public Law 106-290 of October 10, 2000 and is operated by Main Street Gettysburg. In 2010, an effort to expand the amount of the federally-owned GNMP land failed in Congress.
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