Weekend Wanderings: Gettysburg, PA

We went to a wedding last weekend and on the way back passed through Gettysburg, PA. I've been there several times, but never with the hubby. We started our afternoon grabbing lunch at The Pub & Restaurant in Lincoln Square. The waiters were all quite friendly and the food was delicious.

After lunch my husband patiently trailed me through an antiques shop called 17 on the Square where I found a piece I'll be highlighting here next week. It was about what you'd expect of an antique mall in the center of a tourist town - some booths with new items, the upper floor mostly full of glass cases with shelves of collectibles, some textiles downstairs and, of course, quite a bit of Civil War memorabilia and even a costumer if you wanted to dress in Civil War style.

Once we'd finished downtown, we headed for the official battleground visitor's center. They've opened a new visitor's center since I was last there, and it's really a beautiful place. Friendly Park Rangers will guide you along the way to the films and exhibits and the gift shop is a Civil War buff's dream with books, videos, audio CDs and other souvenirs of this nation-changing battle.

We grabbed a guide and went on the auto tour of the battlefield. Many of the roads around the site are one way with space to pull your car over and explore for a time. I was struck by the number of visitors to the site late on a Sunday afternoon in early summer - of every race and nationality. Even with the volume of people and cars, the battleground has the reverence expected of a place where so many lost their lives. And I found myself imagining men who'd walked from places so far away to this lonely field. It's a place worth visiting. A place where freedom found a name.