Stepping Back in Time to Connect with the Present

I recently took a trip to Gettysburg with our nephew who just turned 20. We are both into exploring history, and since we were traveling without our nieces and my wife it was a chance to bond as we traveled back to the Civil War.

While we did a lot of stepping back in time on the battlefields during our trip, it was when I walked into Ernie’s Texas Lunch for breakfast, ironically alone while our nephew slept in, that the title of this post came to me. It’s a time capsule of its own history with a lunch counter and a few booths, all decorated basically as it was when originally opened a little over 100 years ago by the same family that owns it today. They serve a great breakfast, and we went there the next morning before we headed home. He thought the place was pretty cool too.

This was the first time we travelled alone together so it truly was a chance for us to connect. First stop was at my dad’s gravesite in Indiantown Gap National Cemetery as it was only a 5-minute detour from our route. Our nephew was in awe at the size of the cemetery, and a bit saddened when I explained that this is one of way too many such veterans cemeteries across the country. The mood was lightened a bit when we discovered that our lunch stop just down the road was no longer the local diner I remembered but had become a brewpub. Good food and decent beer (for me at least) got us ready for the rest of our drive.

On to the Gettysburg Visitor Center to get info and maps so we could plan the next day’s activities. As luck would have it, there was another brewery on the way to our hotel. Our nephew is always a good sport to hang out while I enjoy a flight, so we reviewed the material we picked up while I tasted a few of their beers. Armed with a 4-pack of their smoked porter, we headed into town to check into our hotel.

When researching the trip, I found a historic hotel (now called The Union Hotel) in the middle of the old town that was active during the Civil War. It was sobering to be surrounded by the history of the three-day battle and to walk the streets that were once overrun with soldiers. Our first step into the past as we forged a new connection between us in the present.

Next day we started with a Lincoln’s Address Tour led by a park ranger in the Gettysburg National Cemetery. After the tour, our nephew commented that so far he had seen cemeteries and breweries. Lunch beckoned and we headed for a historic tavern built and operating since the late 1700s. Sitting at the original bar in the stone-walled basement we stepped farther back in history as we enjoyed a very modern lunch. While there our nephew downloaded the self-guided tour app on his phone to get us set up for the afternoon.

We covered the entire battlefield over the next few hours with the app guiding us all the way. Several stops to get out and take in the views from various key locations and to read the many monuments honoring the soldiers on both sides. My binoculars helped to bring the immensity of the battlefield into perspective. The next day we picked a few areas to explore further, climbing the 2 remaining observation towers at opposite ends of the battlefield to get views of Little Round Top and Pickett’s Charge, and to peer out from atop Culp’s Hill.

On our final day we visited a new museum that featured a room that simulates what it would have been like being in one of the houses in the middle of the battle. That was an amazing experience, even more so because we saw bullet and cannon ball holes in some of the historic buildings and old trees around the park. Final stop was a diorama of the entire battlefield. 20,000+ hand-painted figures, cannons, horses, etc. and a model of the old town of Gettysburg. We both were excited to spot our hotel in that model. For cat lovers there is a much smaller version at a different location in which all the soldiers are cats (yes, it’s real).

We also learned a lot from the many interesting people we met at the breweries, pubs, and eateries we visited. It didn’t occur to me until getting home, but everyone we talked with was either a Gettysburg resident or lived within an hour of town. Those nice folks gave us a lot of information on tours, museums, and places to eat. We only ran into fellow tourists on the battlefield.

I’ll share a funny – yet scary – encounter we had at Fourscore Brewing. Being a wise-ass, I couldn’t resist asking the young beertender how the brewery got its name. She looked a little confused, then asked another employee that question. That woman just rolled her eyes and said, “Four score and seven years ago… Abe Lincoln.” I was trying not to laugh as I told the first woman that of course I knew the answer. The scary part was two-fold as she told me she thought I was serious AND she had to ask someone.

To close I’ll share one of my favorite moments from the trip. On our second day, at yet another brewery (5 in all) where our nephew could not have a beer, he made the trip for me when he said, “next year we won’t have this problem.” He wants to take another trip with me! That confirmed that by stepping back in time we had connected in the present.

www.RetiredandInspiredat55.com 8-14-2023