TRAVEL: Gettysburg gets an upgrade

GETTYSBURG, Pa. — In the spirit of the Gettysburg Address, let’s keep this brief.

Half solemn battlefield and half kitschy vacation spot, in 2013 Gettysburg will mark the 150th anniversary of the Civil War’s most famous battle.

To prepare, it’s sprucing up. Upgrading. Showing off for 2.9 million annual visitors and preparing for even more attention.

No events are set in stone yet, but “we have a committee formed to create events for the sesquicentennial of the entire four-year war,” says Carl Whitehill, tourism bureau spokesman.

Already, more than half of Gettysburg tourists are repeat visitors. Those history buffs have forgotten more about Gettysburg than I’ll ever know. But if you haven’t been here in at least a year, here’s what’s new:

Visitors Center Cyclorama

Run by the National Parks Service, it opened in September 2008.

The gigantic 1884 painting-in-the-round depicts Pickett’s Charge, a futile Confederate infantry assault on the last day of the battle. Filled with gore, blood, death, beauty, explosions, dramatic lighting and a sonorous announcer, the Cyclorama has been brilliantly restored — although your kids might wonder, hey, when’s it going to move? (It doesn’t.)

The visitors center just opened in August 2008 and has a spectacular gift shop.

(1194 Baltimore Pike, www.nps.gov/gett, 717-334-1124. A ticket that admits you to the Cyclorama, another film and the visitors center museum is $10.50; $6.50 ages 6-18.)

Comfort Suites Hotel

It just opened Aug. 1. In a fortunate yet strange location, it abuts Evergreen Cemetery, the civilian cemetery where President Abraham Lincoln stood on a platform to deliver the Gettysburg Address.

The hotel literally ends a few yards from cemetery headstones. And, hey, it offers free breakfast.

David Wills House

It opened in February with the theme of the Gettysburg Address and how Lincoln came to write it. Wills was a lawyer who asked the president to give a few remarks at the dedication of the National Cemetery in November 1863.

This little museum tells the fascinating story of how Lincoln’s small speech, refined in the Wills house the night before the dedication, outshone the two-hour spiel given by the greatest orator of the day, Edward Everett.

You can even see the bed in which Lincoln slept the night before the ceremony — the bed that poor Mrs. Wills, pregnant with her fourth child, gave up that night for the president.

I’d say go to the cemetery first, then come here.

(8 Lincoln Square, www.davidwillshouse.org, 866-486-5735 ; $6.50, $4 ages 6-18)

J’s at the Village

The contemporary restaurant opened May 15. It has indoor and patio service. I recommend the scallops, mahi mahi and short ribs. It’s a nice modern addition to the fussy Civil War-themed dining rooms in town.

(619 Baltimore, www.jsvillage.com, 717-334-9449)

Better battlefield vistas

A lot of progress has been made in the six-year quest to return Gettysburg’s battlefields to their 1863 appearance. A lumber mill’s worth of trees was cut down to provide the exact vistas soldiers saw. Fences were re-erected in the exact spots they ran across the countryside. You’ll see a lot of stumps and a few red “Do Not Cut” tapes tied around the grandest trees.

And yes, a hideous gigantic privately owned observation tower was imploded in 2000, evaporating that eyesore forever.

Doc Weitzel’s Curiosity Show

Reminiscent of the old Niagara Falls museum, this crammed little museum that opened in May will have you bug-eyed.

Ken (Doc) Weitzel takes you around the display very slowly, item by item, to see artifacts that would make P.T. Barnum proud: a mummified fairy, two-headed duckling, scrimshaw, shrunken heads, the Holy Grail (well, maybe not the real one, but one, he says), W.C. Fields’ teeth, a lock of John Wilkes Booth’s hair, Gen. Custer’s mummified head, and a huge collection of Civil War-era medical instruments (his real expertise).

“I wanted to open a Civil War museum, but I thought, ‘I need an angle,’” recalls Weitzel, who says he’s following in Barnum’s footsteps. He’s got it.

The shop is open weekends only. (777 Baltimore St., 202-391-9021)

Only in Gettysburg

• Goods: Gettysburg has perhaps the best collection of Civil War memorabilia for sale anywhere in the world. You could spend days checking out shops like the Horse Soldier, where you can buy a Union soldier’s uniform for $30,000 or a brass button for a few dollars. (777 Baltimore, www.horsesoldier.com, 717-334-0347)

• Getups: In Gettysburg, people actually walk around town in Civil War dress, just for fun. I ran into Gettysburg residents Diane Smith and Shari Moore and their friend from Philadelphia, Peggy Vosseler. They were dressed in long gowns with wide skirts, hats and gloves. A special occasion? Nope. Not even a 95-degree day dissuaded them.

• Ghosts: Gettysburg has the bad taste and good fortune to be a ghost tour mecca. The tours helped tourism rebound in the slow 1990s.

At the Mystical Marketplace shop, I ran into a clerk who swore that a modern ghost has appeared in her store, a woman with crazy stick-out hair.

But aren’t the ghosts all from the Civil War era? I asked

“No,” she said. “We have a lot of civilian ghosts as well.”

• Guides: Gettysburg’s battlefield has attracted curiosity seekers almost from the day Gen. Robert E. Lee pulled his Confederate troops out. Since 1915, licensed battlefield guides have helped tourists navigate the 6,000-acre site and its 1,400 monuments.

I hired private guide Renae McLachlan, who took me to the sites of Little Round Top, an unsuccessful assault against the Union left flank on the second day, and Pickett’s Charge. For just $55 for two hours, I’m convinced it’s the best way for first-timers to see the battlefield, which otherwise seems as confusing as a chessboard. (www.nps.gov/gett, 877-874-2478)

Other ways to see the battlefield are to drive yourself using an audio tour CD from the gift shop, take a bus tour, hike, bicycle, ride horseback or even take a Segway.

For the fewest crowds, visit in early morning or late afternoon, when the gentler light makes for better photos.

If you go:

• Getting there: The nearest large airport is Baltimore, about a 1 1/2-hour drive.

• Lodging: Try Comfort Suites, which just opened in August (945 Baltimore Pike, www.gettysburgcomfortsuites.com, 717-334-6715, $99-up) or the classic Best Western Gettysburg Hotel, which dates to 1797 — OK, not as a Best Western, but it’s an old building and a favorite of Gettysburg purists. (1 Lincoln Square, www.hotelgettysburg.com, 717-337-2000, $99-up)

• Reading: Before you go to Gettysburg, read “The Killer Angels” by Michal Shaara (Ballantine, $15), the Pulitzer Prize-winning epic novel about the battle. Or at least see “Gettysburg,” the movie.

Tags: faces and places, features, travel, gettysburg