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I am not a fan of the new Gettysburg Visitor Center for the following reasons...
The tour guide said that when the project is all said and done (including tearing down the cyclorama building and current visitor center and restoring that land to 1863 condition) it will cost 140 million dollars.
How can you justify spending $140,000,000.00 when development is currently threatening parts of the battlefield? Did you know that the barn that Armistead died in is on slate to be sold, torn down and turned into a cookie-cutter subdivision? Wouldn't it be better to build a more modest visitor center or fix up the one they have with a renovation/expansion and have money left over to preserve land like the barn that Armistead died in?
On top of it, the new visitor center will display signifcantly less artifacts at the expense of more pay-to-view movies. You can pay to watch videos on Gettysburg anywhere in the world. But no other place in the world has an extensive of a collection of artifacts that were witnesses and instruments of the battle...put those on display not videos.
Additionally, they are tearing up and disturbing a huge chunk of land where people died and shells landed that is slightly further away. It seems disrespectful to tear up that much ground on the battlefield.
I am sick of people saying the cyclorama building is in the way. They should have thought of that before they built it and Ziegler's Grove masks it pretty well from most angles... Why disturb more ground?
140 million dollars, seems like a waste to me, I personally think that the preservation and reclamation of land around the battlefield should be a top priority. Incorporate more significant land in to the park.
If $140 million must be spent, spend it on the site that was supposed to be the speak-easy gambling joint (cause the computer won't let me use the cas--- word).
There is an article on the restoration of the Philippoteaux painting in today's Washington Post. It is on their web-site.
Part of the reason for the future removal of the 60s era visitor center at Ziegler's grove is it is thought to be built on important part of the battlefield...which was not considered then.
The people who decided to put it there Im sure are long dead.
$140,000,000 is not so much in the big picture of our National budget.
Definetely like to see another $140,000,000 for other preservation effort there,though.
Hopefully any missteps that may occur when its first opens in '08 can be corrected.
Part of the reason for the future removal of the 60s era visitor center at Ziegler's grove is it is thought to be built on important part of the battlefield...which was not considered then.
The people who decided to put it there Im sure are long dead.
$140,000,000 is not so much in the big picture of our National budget.
My point is, why spend an extravagant amount of money NOW when you could buy and save a piece of history that is about to be lost forever -- the barn that Armistead died in???
No matter how you cut it, $140,000,000 is a lot of money and you could make a visitor center that displays a lot more artifacts than the new one for a lot less money and then in turn save historical land around the park that is about to be lost forever.
Yeah. Well I did say they need $140 million more for all the other places in danger.
Im an admirer of BGen Armistead I regret that the barn is being demolished.
Do you have a link to the story about Armistead's barn?
What artifacts will be missing at the new place?
In any event: 'alea jacta est'
VS
Last week I was at Gettysburg and I did a few paid tour guides to take me to specific parts of the battlefield and talk in depth on various subjects. One of the paid tourguides took me to the barn (just outside of the park) where Armistead died and said that the land was up for sale and it appears that a developer has the best bid and is proposing to put in high end homes and the barn would be leveled. All of the paid tourguides said that the new visitor center will have less artifacts on display...30% less, because there is more of an emphasis on videos and getting money for the videos.
The 140 million is probably Federal money that is being spent to build the center. I would like to see more of the artifacts on display, but I think that alot of what is there is alot of the same things. You can really only display so many bullets, weapons, etc. There is a need for a new center, I think. The old facility is really not protecting the artifacts that are in storage well enough, and they need a new facility with new equipment to store the various artifacts.
The thing with sites such as the barn in which Armistead died in is that the Federal government does not usually purchase them. It is normally donations and the actions of organizations such as the CWPT that buy them and then turn them over to the government or the specific park. I don't know if there is anything in the works with the CWPT to purchase the property, but if not, its up to people like us to petition them to do so.
__________________ "The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize." George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796
1) Re: "The thing with sites such as the barn in which Armistead died in is that the Federal government does not usually purchase them."
I don't know when, or under what political circumstances, the goverment bought several of the Gettysburg sites. But I wonder if John F. Reynolds had been the one to die in that barn, if the federal government might have purchased it?
2) Might it not, as a sub-division developer, be a smart move to preserve the barn as a historical centerpiece of the planned 'community'?
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"It was a very peculiar time." - Franklin D. Cossitt
Ancestors in USA Army: 6th IA Inf, 11th IL Cav, 1st AL Cav; 122nd NY Inf; 6th MI Cav; 35th MA Inf; 100th IL Inf; 1st CO Inf/Cav; 22nd IN Inf
I am not saying that the federal government doesn't ever, but its not usual for them do to do such a thing. I will have to do some research as to how much property of Civil War significance, or even historical significance for that matter, that the Federal government purchases. The thing is, the fed. govt. probably wouldn't purchase it right now, because there isn't much money in the Dept. of the Interior to do that. Alot of departments have been drained because of the War on Terror. Not making a political statement or anything, but its just what has happened. Now, no more is being taken away, b/c the President knows that he just can't take any more, or the NPS won't be able to function.
Like I said, it has been organizations like the CWPT that have been getting these historic gems and preserving them for us and our posterity. They are right now working on getting the portion of the Fredericksburg battlefield where Jackson fought on December 13. Unfortunately, they can only save so much, and we lose alot of things that should be saved.
As to if it had been Reynolds, IMHO, I doubt that would make a difference. From what I have been able to gather, alot of the field hospitals that are still standing that are off of the Gettysburg battlefield are in private hands, and really, they can (unfortunately) sell to whomever they please. One can only wish that a person would be of the mind to try and donate or sell that property to an organization that would preserve a historically significant structure. I went on CWPT to see if there was anything on this structure, but I didn't see anything. Hopefully something will be said soon, or we may see it lost.
__________________ "The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize." George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796
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