Something's Missing!

[pamc153PA]

What do you think?

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

Someone forgot to pay the statue bill?



(Is that a mid-construction photo?)

 

[Poor Private]

Looks kinda stark without them

 

[Drew]

I heard natural gas prices are falling... they'll put it back I'm sure...

 

[pamc153PA]

Someone forgot to pay the statue bill?



(Is that a mid-construction photo?)

Yep. Note the sod being laid in front of the base. The monument, without the statues, was dedicated in 1913, and the finished monument was dedicated in 1917.

 

[Patrick H]

Okay...pardon my gross ignorance, folks. I can see that there is no statue on the pedestal. Now...someone please help me get "hip" to this monument. What am I seeing here? After giving me a true answer, you Gettysburg aficionados can all have a hearty laugh at my expense! I probably deserve it!

Seriously, I've never been to Pennsylvania, except to fly over its air space. Neither have a lot of our members. So please enlighten me. Then, go ahead and have a chuckle....

 

[ole]

I was going to say the sod-layers were not finished, but I didn't because I didn't know about anything else wrong with the picture. Oh well.

 

[pamc153PA]

Okay...pardon my gross ignorance, folks. I can see that there is no statue on the pedestal. Now...someone please help me get "hip" to this monument. What am I seeing here? After giving me a true answer, you Gettysburg aficionados can all have a hearty laugh at my expense! I probably deserve it!

Seriously, I've never been to Pennsylvania, except to fly over its air space. Neither have a lot of our members. So please enlighten me. Then, go ahead and have a chuckle....

You are looking at the half finished Virginia Monument. This is the finished version. The Pickett's Charge field is at your back.

No reason to chuckle at your expense--it was a kinda trick question!​

 

[Drew]

You are looking at the half finished Virginia Monument.

Mud on my face!

I thought it was the Peace Memorial without the flame....whoops.

 

[reading48]

The old shed or guard shack to the left was also a dead giveaway ...
The first Confederate State Monument dedicated 1917.

 

[pamc153PA]

Notice the War Department guard shack on the left of the photo. They existed in several locations on the battlefield from 1895 through about 1920, in places like the Virginia Monument, Sykes Avenue, Spangler's Spring, and Devil's Den (most of us know it as the more recent incarnation--the restroom, which is now gone). The idea was to station guards around the park to discourage looters and relic hunters.

 

[Northern Light]

Oh, I thought they had just taken the statues away so they wouldn't get wrecked during the battle!

 

[chellers]

Kudos to @Northern Light! The only player with the correct answer!

 

[Frederick14Va]

Oh, I thought they had just taken the statues away so they wouldn't get wrecked during the battle!

On a similar note.... years ago while participating in the annual Gettysburg NPS living history program... me and a couple pards were taking a short break and walking about on the battlefield..... along one of the paths along came this lady and a couple kids in tow... strutting forth at a brisk pace... kids trying to keep up... one child by the arm nearly being dragged along.... as she passed by within ear shot we heard her angrily gripe, semi directed in our direction.... "This whole darn place isn't nothing but a fraud and scam... Aint no battle ever fought here... look at all those monuments over there... isn't a single bullet mark on any of them".... we paused looking at each other in utter disbelief.... no one could even fathom a word to even try a response....

 

[Patrick H]

You are looking at the half finished Virginia Monument. This is the finished version. The Pickett's Charge field is at your back.

View attachment 56595

No reason to chuckle at your expense--it was a kinda trick question!​

Pamc, thank you very much for this!

 

[pamc153PA]

Aerial view of the memorial. Looks like it's finished (see the flame) but there's some sort of construction vehicles around it. Power washing, maybe? Notice all the shrubbery and the trees behind the monument. Also notice how empty the field is to the west, and also the dirt road that loops up past the Whitworths in the right hand corner.

 

[Northern Light]

Is the flame working yet?

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

Hm. I interpreted the streak right above the bowl as the flame, but I suppose it might be some sort of path or something on the ground in the background?

Also, there's someone on the base that looks to me like a woman with a baby carriage? And nearby, one or two people hunched over something. I guess the 'woman with carriage' is more likely a 'worker with wheelbarrow' or something like that. He/she appears as if they're looking right at the camera, which I'm guessing is on some sort of cherry-picker or something... hm. And now I'm second-guessing that as well-- if it's a low-flying plane, that's a natural reason for the worker/woman to be looking this way.

 

[MRB1863]

Hm. I interpreted the streak right above the bowl as the flame, but I suppose it might be some sort of path or something on the ground in the background?

Also, there's someone on the base that looks to me like a woman with a baby carriage? And nearby, one or two people hunched over something. I guess the 'woman with carriage' is more likely a 'worker with wheelbarrow' or something like that. He/she appears as if they're looking right at the camera, which I'm guessing is on some sort of cherry-picker or something... hm. And now I'm second-guessing that as well-- if it's a low-flying plane, that's a natural reason for the worker/woman to be looking this way.

Mark,
That streak does look like the flame. Looks like everybody in the photo is looking "at the plane or whatever", even the well-dressed group at front left of the base. Where are the tour buses?

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

Mark,
That streak does look like the flame. Looks like everybody in the photo is looking "at the plane or whatever", even the well-dressed group at front left of the base. Where are the tour buses?

You know, every time we do a deep dive on a photo, there's always more going on than appears at first glance-- believe it or not, I entirely missed the group of people at the lower left of the base!