9 Things To Know About Gettysburg and the Annual Civil War Reenactment

Imagine for a moment what today would be like if the Union Army hadn’t broken the back of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia at that dusty Pennsylvania crossroads town over a century and a half ago.

Think of an America still riven by irreconcilable visions of history and generations of enmity. Picture its government actively encouraging the segregation, targeting, and exploitation of people based on skin color, its citizens unable to agree on so basic and fundamental a concept as acknowledging the humanity in their fellow man. Think of living in a broken country that’s left its citizens easy prey to demagogues and the world bereft of the shining star of American democracy.

It’s no exaggeration to say that, if Philadelphia was the birthplace of America, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, just over 100 miles to the west, was its crucible, where the country would either emerge stronger or shatter altogether. Today, Gettysburg is one of America’s premier historical sites, an educational treasure trove for both grown-ups and their kids, Americans and international visitors.

I visited the town with my family in July 2025 for its annual reenactment of its crucial Civil War battle, and these are things I wish I’d known beforehand.

1. You’ll Appreciate It More if You’re a History Nerd

No surprise here: A trip to Gettysburg most benefits students and old fogies who still brag about getting a 5 on their U.S. history A.P. test. Getting the most out of a visit without a guidebook or extra help involves knowing the significance of places like the Peach Orchard, Little Round Top, Cemetery Ridge, and Devil’s Den; why Confederate Gen. Richard Ewell’s timidity may have doomed the Southern offensive; and why Pickett’s Charge ultimately withered when pitted against Maj. Gen. George Meade’s foresight.

That said, there’s still a tremendous amount of fun to be had by everyone else, too, as Gettysburg’s a beautifully scenic town offering lots of pleasant outdoor exploration, plenty of activities, and a bustling food scene.

2. Gettysburg National Military Park Is Sprawling

The Battle of Gettysburg involved nearly 200,000 soldiers and lasted 3 days of fighting over several sites in and around town. Not surprisingly, the present-day national military park commemorating the battle has to cover a lot of ground — nearly 5,700 acres (or about 9 square miles).

But unlike, say, Walt `Disney World, every inch of space isn’t crammed with activities or even things to look at and connect to historic events. For example, the Peach Orchard was the site of a critical engagement on July 2, 1863, the second day of battle, and its bloodiest. South Carolinians eventually took Union positions here, but not before Northern cannons inflicted grievous losses on the Confederates.

But when you go to the Peach Orchard today, you mostly see peach trees and lots of farmland. Lots. Of. Farmland.

That’s not to say that there aren’t historical markers, decommissioned period cannons, and monuments to be found. They’re everywhere! It’s just that the park is so big that you can go for a longer while than you’d expect before you come across something historical.

3. Tours Make It Much Easier

Going on guided tours makes it much easier to squeeze the most context out of a Gettysburg battlefield visit. You can arrange individual guides or guided tours in cars or buses, but my family went on a tour by horse-driven carriage by Horse Tours of Gettysburg, which turned out to be loads of fun and informative.

The guides at Gettysburg tend to be people with a genuine love for the subject. Our guide was a retired journalist from New Jersey who had moved to Pennsylvania and wanted to spend his days indulging his passion for history, which shone through in his talks, jokes, and questions as we trotted by the historic sites and final resting places of soldiers from both sides of the Civil War.

4. Gettysburg National Cemetery Is a Solemn Site

Gettysburg National Cemetery is both part of and distinct from Gettysburg National Military Park, serving as the burial grounds for over 6,000 Civil War soldiers and veterans.

It’s also where Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address, that 271-word speech he gave 4 months after the battle to consecrate the cemetery, beginning with the momentous words “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” and ending with Lincoln’s pithy summation of democracy and promise that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Of course, that speech had significant consequences for world history. It eventually was echoed in Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech and in the constitutions of France and Japan.

Though there’s a marker for Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address very close to the park’s entrance, that’s not the actual site where the president gave his speech. The actual location where Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address is the Soldiers’ National Monument, the central and much grander cenotaph situated within the cemetery. You can’t miss it, and most of the gravestones point right at it.

5. You Can Practice Golf at the Eisenhower National Historic Site

The Civil War battle isn’t the only thing Gettysburg has going for it in terms of history. It’s also where President Dwight Eisenhower had his retirement home, which he used as a secondary White House while still in office.

The Eisenhower National Historic Site includes a working cattle farm, part of Ike’s collection of cars, a look inside the home he shared with Mamie, and an actual PGA putting green. Ike was a legendary avid golfer and started the love affair between U.S. presidents and the game. You borrow a golf ball and a club from the park rangers at the nearby booth up the hill.

6. You Can’t Throw a Rock Without Hitting a Historic Site, Even in Town

Though the bulk of the fighting during the Civil War battle took place outside or on the outskirts of the town of Gettysburg proper, the bullet holes that pockmark a few of the older buildings downtown are evidence of the peril the townspeople were in. (The only civilian death from the battle, though, was Jennie Wade, a seamstress who was shot dead by a Minie ball in her sister’s kitchen in what’s now 548 Baltimore Street.)

Everywhere you look, there are points of historical interest, like the Gettysburg Lincoln Railroad Station, the town’s onetime main train station and where Lincoln arrived before giving his address.

You can also find monuments to more recent history, like right on the town’s Center Square (it’s really a circle), where a statue of what’s supposed to be “the common man” but is sometimes believed to be local singer Perry Como hangs out with a statue of Abraham Lincoln.

Hot Tip:

Need a place to stay? Read our review of Hotel Gettysburg.

7. The Battle of Gettysburg Reenactment Isn’t on the Battlefield

You’d think a battlefield reenactment would be on a battlefield, right? It’s not. Since the National Park Service doesn’t allow it, the annual Battle of Gettysburg reenactment instead takes place at the historic Daniel Lady Farm on a long weekend roughly around the anniversary of the battle dates (July 1 to 3).

Tickets, depending on whether you buy seats in the stand and so on, run from $40 to $160 per day. Each day includes 2 or 3 reenactments based on actual events from the battle, like infantry advances, cannon barrages, and cavalry skirmishes. (The reenactors get to decide when they want to lie down and “die” — I asked.)

On fields away from the mock battlefield, you can find soldiers who aren’t fighting marching in formation, doing rifle drills, caring for their horses, and so on.

The back fields are also set up with rows and rows of period-accurate tents, where the reenactors spend the weekend. The soldiers hang out here with the camp followers, the women and families who followed the men into war and were responsible for much of camp life throughout history (though they played a much smaller role by the time of the Civil War).

You can find reenactors, both men and women, in period costume, relaxing over open fires, preparing meals, and generally just hanging out.

Even the children get into reenacting, wandering between tents and playing with each other while adorned in period gear.

My favorite thing to do, of course, was to snap pictures of reenactors in period costume taking photos of each other with 21st-century cell phones.

8. You Need To Plan Out Food and Beverages

Though Gettysburg has a good array of restaurants for a town of less than 9,000, planning on getting a bite to eat between explorations of the parks and battlefields was trickier than we’d expected. Our first night, we got back into town so late (like after 9 p.m.) that we had to buy dinner at a convenience store.

At the military park, we had lunch at the visitors center cafeteria, which had the usual kid-friendly fare but also historically minded oddities like hardtack (the tooth-breaking crackers that were the staple of a Civil War soldier’s rations).

In town, though, we liked the comprehensive menu and hot fries and pies at the Lincoln Diner.

The burgers at Gettysburg Eddie’s, named after a hometown Hall of Famer, Eddie Plank, were filling and right across from the miniature soldiers store.

And ice cream seemed to be everywhere during the reenactment weekend (it was July, after all), but LuLu’s Finest Ice Cream had an overwhelming variety of flavors and freshly pressed cones.

9. The Shopping Is Nerdy, Too

One of my favorite stores in Havana is the one that sells only miniature lead soldiers. The ones at Gettysburg Miniature Soldiers, fortunately, are much less toxic — and historical. You don’t have to wade through troves of Warhammer 40,000 Ultramarines to find your 18th-century Hessian dragoons.

At the reenactment itself, one field is dedicated to merchant stalls selling everything from tintypes of your family and 19th-century treats to replica sabers and real Civil War bullets recovered from battlefields. Souvenirs abound!

Final Thoughts

The Battle of Gettysburg and Lincoln’s profound words in its aftermath were pivotal moments in the darkest point in American history. Whether you’re a history buff or don’t know the Battle of Carrhae from “The Rage: Carrie 2,” the parks, town, and monuments stand as a moving tribute to democracy’s enduring strength — and a promise that America has gotten through existential crises before and will do so again.