Insider Tips for a Visit to Gettysburg

In this article I’m sharing my insider tips for a visit to Gettysburg. I’ve visited the town and surrounding battlefield at least a dozen times and always manage to find something new. Here are a few of my favorite under-the-radar things to do in Gettysburg. 

Connecting with History in Gettysburg

I remember the first time I “connected” with history. I was about 10 years old. My family took a summer trip to Gettysburg, and we pulled to the side of the road near some large boulders. A signpost displayed a black and white photo of a dead rifleman, lying alongside a big rock. 

I studied the picture and realized it was taken more than a century earlier at that very spot. The rock in that old photograph was the boulder right in front of me!  I walked straight up to it. I ran my hands over that boulder and crouched beside it like the soldier had done. 

It wasn’t hard to imagine myself in his shoes. I studied his face in the photo and wondered what his name was. Where was he from, and what happened to him? I still don’t know, although I did learn something interesting about the photo itself.

Popular Things to Do in Gettysburg

After a dozen more trips to Gettysburg, I thought I’d seen or done just about everything there. Battlefield tours, reenactments, hiking, observation towers, and lots of restaurants. Relic shopping, historic homes, many ghost hunts, and even a stop on the Underground Railroad. I crossed them all off my list. 

But the town and battlefield keep luring me back, and last weekend I again found myself walking in Lincoln’s footsteps. I discovered a couple of new things to do in Gettysburg— activities that might otherwise escape notice.  

Gettysburg – Beyond the Battle

Gettysburg’s newest museum, Beyond the Battle, opened in April 2023. It still smells new. The place is sponsored by the Adams County Historical Society and explores the area’s entire history— not just the Civil War era. All of the exhibits are well done, but one in particular intrigued me and my friends. 

“Caught in the Crossfire” invites patrons to learn how it felt to be an ordinary citizen during the battle. Visitors take a seat inside a reconstructed farmhouse. Then they experience the feelings, sights, and sounds of battle as they “hide” there until the home is overrun by the enemy. 

Men shout, the floor shakes, bullets “pierce” the walls, and shells explode outside. Inside, you overhear the anxious conversations of the family hiding with you. It’s an immersive experience that lasts several minutes and reminds you the town and surrounding farms were themselves part of the battlefield.  

Re-Living History in Gettysburg

The historical markers that line Baltimore Street describe what local residents lived through. “Caught in the Crossfire” lets you feel it and reawakened the 10-year-old me’s fascination with recreating history.

The Beyond the Battle museum is about a mile north of the town’s main circle. It’s open daily with free parking and offers free admission to active-duty military personnel. Small discounts are available to members of other groups. For more information and to plan a visit, click here. 

Cascading Taps at Gettysburg National Cemetery

Less than three miles from the museum is the Gettysburg National Cemetery. Taps is played there at 7:00 every night from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The bugler or trumpeter typically stands at the foot of the Soldiers’ National Monument, which marks the spot where President Abraham Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address.

The playing of taps here is solemn on any occasion but especially so on Labor Day— the only day of the year when cascading taps is played. That’s when multiple buglers are stationed throughout the cemetery and sound taps in staggered, overlapping succession to create an echoing effect. If you can arrange to be in town on Labor Day, I think it’s worth sticking around for. And you’ll have experienced one of the rarest things to do in Gettysburg. 

Mostly Union soldiers are buried at Gettysburg National Cemetery, although a few Confederates were laid to rest there. (The majority of Confederate remains was either left on the battlefield or relocated to cemeteries in the South.) I wonder where the Confederate soldier in that photo ended up…

Gettysburg Illuminations

The National Cemetery on special occasions also hosts “illuminations”— when luminaries are placed in the evening at the site of each grave. The next one, weather permitting, is scheduled for Remembrance Day (aka Dedication Day) on November 15, 2025. Remembrance Day commemorates the date (November 19) in 1863 when Lincoln dedicated the cemetery with his famous speech. Remembrance Day is celebrated each year on the Saturday closest to the actual date.  

It’s a big deal locally, with a parade, wreath-laying ceremony, and keynote speech. The David Wills House, on the circle in downtown Gettysburg, will be free and open to visitors. (Lincoln spent the night before the dedication at the Wills home and finished writing his speech there.) 

Walk Lincoln’s Route to the Gettysburg Address

If you want to walk literally in Lincoln’s footsteps, start at the train station one block north of the circle. It’s the same one that welcomed Lincoln on the day before his speech. From the station, head south to the rotary and cut left to the Wills House. (It’s the red brick building at the edge of the circle, with a life-size statue of Lincoln next to it.)

From there, the President walked with a large crowd south on Baltimore Street to the cemetery. He delivered his speech at the spot where the Soldiers’ National Monument now stands. Walking in Lincoln’s actual footsteps has to be one of the coolest things to do in Gettysburg. 

For more information about Remembrance Day events, click here.  

The Sniper’s Lair at Shriver House Museum

If you want to get even closer to the action, consider a stop at the Shriver House Museum as you walk up Baltimore Street. The home is restored to its original Civil War state and hides something intriguing in the attic. (Museum staff refer to the attic as a garret.)

There you’ll find a sniper’s lair used by Confederate soldiers. As you climb the stairs, you’ll run your hands along the same bannister gripped by General Lee’s men. You’ll walk across the same pinewood planks trod by their boots. And at the south wall you’ll spot two small openings where the snipers knocked out bricks to fire at the Union soldiers uphill. The garret is staged to look as it would have during the battle. You can easily imagine yourself in the midst of the action. 

Bullet Holes on the Wall; Blood on the Floor

When you exit the house and turn right, you’ll immediately encounter an alley along the building’s south wall. (It’s by the sign announcing Shriver’s Saloon and Ten Pin Alley.) Step into the alley and note the pockmarks in the bricks— bullet holes from the Union’s return fire.

Blood on the floor in the attic attests to the accuracy of Union sharpshooters; at least two Confederate snipers died there. (Modern crime scene investigators used Luminol to confirm the garret floor was once soaked in blood.) War is not pleasant stuff.

For more information about the Shriver House Museum, click here.

Gettysburg Restaurants with Secrets

This blog’s main objective is to help travelers find unique, under-the-radar experiences across the globe. I don’t want to waste your time repeating information already found easily elsewhere. So I usually avoid dining recommendations. In this instance, I make an exception for two eateries with unusual bragging rights.  

Dobbin House Tavern in Gettysburg

The Dobbin House Tavern at 89 Steinwehr Avenue, built in 1776, is Gettysburg’s oldest building and was once a stop on the Underground Railroad. Visitors can view for free the hiding place once used by slaves on their way to freedom. (It’s near the west entrance to the building and visible for free to walk-ins.) 

The establishment has an eccentric dining room on the second floor and a 1700’s-style tavern in the basement. Both are quite popular, so plan ahead or expect to wait in line. Whenever I  bring visitors to Gettysburg, dining in the tavern consistently ranks as one of their favorite things to do.

Click here for more details.

Sweney’s Tavern at the Farnsworth House Inn

Sweney’s Tavern at the Farnsworth House Inn on Baltimore Street was a popular hangout for the cast and crew of the 1993 movie, Gettysburg. Uniforms, props, and memorabilia from the film are on display throughout the tavern. Visitors will spot several famous names and autographs.

And for those interested in spirits of a different sort, Farnsworth House is said to be among the most haunted buildings in America. (And let’s face it— the pursuit of ghosts is a perennially popular thing to do in Gettysburg.)

For information about the Inn and the Tavern, click here. 

Interested in more personal connections to history? Read about WW2 resistance fighters in Prague and a former prisoner of the East German Stasi.