During the course of Turkey Day 2014, Ye Olde Photographer and his Faire Spouse, accompanied by friends, took advantage of a slight improvement in the weather and drove over to the Gettysburg Battlefield Visitor Center and Museum. It was only about an hour's drive from our weekend lodging in Mercersburg. The sun was in and out a bit, and air temperatures were around 34ºF with a bit of a breeze, so we concentrated on the visitor center and museum. YOP concentrated more on the visual and admits to not covering much detail about names, dates and places.

The museum has had a major overhaul within the last decade or so and is quite impressive. A major feature of the facility is the "Cyclorama." French artist Paul Philippoteaux, in the late 1880s, created the Battle of Gettysburg Cyclorama painting. He spent months at the battlefield researching, accompanied by veterans, a photographer and a battlefield guide. It took the artist and a team of assistants more than a year to complete the painting. The breathtaking canvas measures 377 feet in circumference and 42 feet high. The Gettysburg Cyclorama oil painting immerses visitors in the fury of Pickett’s Charge during the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg.

The painting has been painstakingly restored and is now installed the way the artist originally intended. There is an overhead canopy and a three-dimensional diorama foreground that realistically features stone walls, broken fences, shattered trees and a cannon. Visitors group on platforms in the center of the space and the effect is as though one were on an observation tower looking over the battle. There is an audio narrative along with the display and occasionally special lighting is used to help identify an area. The effect is absolutely amazing.

There is much to see here, many monuments honoring various military units, and a national cemetery. If one can get past the horrors our ancestors inflicted on each other, there is also the beautiful scenery of rolling farmland accessible by self-guided auto tours and tours with guides. The National Park Service has the Gettysburg National Military Park with additional visitor and museum facilities. There is a network of bicycle routes mapped through the battlefield which might tempt Ye Olde Photographer in more spring-like weather conditions.