We love visiting Gettysburg and travel down there a few times every year. Every time we go, we try to visit a different section of the Gettysburg Battlefield. On one of our more recent trips down to Gettysburg, we toured the Civil War monuments located on McPherson Ridge and Oak Ridge.
When visiting I highly suggest that you pick up the auto-tour battlefield map (free) from the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitors Center. In addition, I recommend that you purchase the Official Guidebook to the National Military Park at the museum bookstore or buy it from the Gettysburg Foundation’s website. Both of these items guide you through your tour.
Driving through this area is absolutely beautiful, year-round. We started on Reynolds Avenue in McPherson Ridge and worked our way towards Oak Ridge by following the recommended tour path.
In McPherson Ridge you’ll find a small information center that is open seasonally (during the summer) season with public restrooms (if you need them) and information on the area.
As you’re driving through and touring this area you’ll see several nice Civil War monuments and memorials, the McPherson Barn and the world-famous Seminary Ridge Museum is nearby.
Once you enter the Oak Ridge section of the tour you’ll see more Civil War monuments, the Eternal Light Peace Memorial and a really cool observation tower. If you’re in decent physical health, you can climb up the 2 long flight’s of stairs to the top of the platform and get a great view of the battlefield and the surrounding area.
We got out and looked at each monument and memorial in these two sections of the battlefield. A lot of them have information printed on their sides and backs, so you really do need to get out of your vehicle and walk around if you want to really learn more about them.
From start to finish…I believe it took us about 2 hours to go through just this section of the Gettysburg Battlefield. We like to park, walk and really check out the Civil War monuments as we go along. In other words, we go at our own pace and take our leisurely time.
Throughout my travel feature today, you’ll see some of the Civil War monuments, memorials and surrounding scenery that we saw on the day that we visited. If you’ve never been there before, I highly recommend that you add it to your travel bucket list. It’s a very educating and humbling experience.
You have posted so many different articles on Gettysburg that I am truely fascinated by all that there is to be found at this battlefield. Some of the monuments are very beautiful.
I would really enjoy visiting this area there is so much history. I really liked reading this post and I always love the pictures.
I love seeing older places in American history. It can be battle fields or it can be homes or schools. I think they all are interesting. Thank you for the information.
We visited a whole lot of the battlefields one year, although we didnt get to this one. The monuments at some of the larger battlefields are t totally amazing. This looks impressive, and I am sure we would spend hours. It is mind numbing to see just how large these areas are, and to know just how far the men had walked (usually) to even get there. This one is on our bucket list. Thanks for the preview !
My husband and I also enjoy traveling to different locations to see monuments and historical markers. It really is a wonderful way to learn more about history and a good way to teach our kids about history. We haven’t visited the Civil War in Gettysburg, but are adding it to our bucket list.