Gettysburg During the Centennial

[Kip124thNY]

Thanks for posting, brings back old memories.

 

[PeterT]

Excellent thread. Thanks James N. for bringing it back!

 

[mofederal]

I haven't seen a copy of this for a long time. I used to own a copy. I lost it in the fire. It brought back a lot of memories. Thank you.

 

[James N.]

Part IV - Tourist Accommodations and Other Attractions

... make NO mistake, the real attraction here was - and possibly still is!? - the Cannon Cafeteria! The "museum" and its diorama were literal "fronts" for the cafeteria in back; if pedestrian and unmemorable, the food was eminently affordable! One thing about this place I do remember favorably though was the ballyhooed Battle Orientation Film which was nothing but an animated map with division and brigade-sized rectangles moving over terrain. This sounds awful and many visitors likely found it either boring or incomprehensible, but Mike and I were dedicated board wargamers and so to us it was like watching one of our games of Avalon-Hill Gettysburg unfold before our eyes and so loved it!

Update: During last year's September to Remember Mike and I made a point of stopping at General Pickett's Buffet and inquiring if it in fact is the same old Cannon Cafeteria from the Centennial - IT IS! We even met and visited with one of the dining room staff who worked there "back in the day" who told us a little of its history. Unfortunately (?), there's now NO trace of the former diorama or animated map film.

 

[James N.]

Part V - Soldiers, Soldiers, Soldiers!

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... In a somewhat similar vein was the famous Cliff Arquette's Soldiers Museum which occupied a building on the Baltimore Pike that had supposedly served as headquarters for Oliver O. Howard commanding the Union XI Corps and later was transformed into an orphanage for children of fallen Union soldiers...

Somewhat sad to relate, on our visit last year we also stopped here, which is now a venue for yet another of the seemingly interminable Gettysburg Ghost Tours, one of which we took; at least they not only knew who Cliff Arquette was, they even referenced him during the presentation.

 

[E_just_E]

Somewhat sad to relate, on our visit last year we also stopped here, which is now a venue for yet another of the seemingly interminable Gettysburg Ghost Tours, one of which we took; at least they not only knew who Cliff Arquette was, they even referenced him during the presentation.

In spirit?

 

[Yankeedave]

I made a point of stopping at General Pickett's Buffet

yeah me too

 

[James N.]

yeah me too

Mike and I didn't eat there during our brief visit - but only a year later in April 2018 my friend Doug @1863surgeon, his son Bradley, and I stopped there for dinner on both days of our Gettysburg visit. Doug has mobility issues and Pickett's is easily accessible and traversed, but we thought the food was good too, and better than I expected.

 

[7thWisconsin]

I remember that big diorama too! I was never as fond of it as the Dobbin House diorama , though; that was a work of art! I had nightmares for a while after I first saw Johnny chained in the cellar at Charlie Weaver's place!