Pinch Gut

[pamc153PA]

The area on the battlefield near the Bushman Farm. Older photos of the area looked like this:

Nowadays it looks like this:

And across the street (Snyder House is the white building in the middle):

These non-historic houses used to be on the right side of the photo above, until they were removed (a.k.a. The Reaver property):

 

[Private Watkins]

Showing my ignorance here... why is this thread titled "Pinch Gut"...?
(thanks for your patience with one so unknowledgable...)

 

[pamc153PA]

Showing my ignorance here... why is this thread titled "Pinch Gut"...?
(thanks for your patience with one so unknowledgable...)

Pinch Gut is the name of that area of the battlefield, those avenues. There was actually a little village there that grew up after the battle, houses and businesses. The word "pinchgut" means a miser; I'm not sure whether the area was named after someone who was miserly, or because the angles of the turns in the road onto and off of Emittsburg Pike are tight and "miserly," or what. No one has ever been able to explain Gettysburg's Pinch Gut name to me.

 

[pamc153PA]

Here's an article that mentions Pinch Gut:

Commercial interests began snapping up property along Confederate lines, building tourist cabins, diners, even a roller rink. As the 50th anniversary in 1913 approached and again with the 75th anniversary in 1938 and the centennial in 1963, more development came. In addition, many private properties remained within park boundaries, so many in some spots that whole villages like the one named Pinchgut cropped up.

http://articles.philly.com/2013-06-24/news/40148272_1_cyclorama-battlefield-national-park-service

 

[pamc153PA]

One of the buildings in the Pinch Gut, on the Bushman Farm side of South Confederate Avenue, near the Texas monument and the picnic area.