Appomattox, VA & Gettysburg, PA

April 15th we left North Carolina and drove to Appomattox, VA.  Our first stop in Appomattox was The Museum of The Confederacy.  It just opened in March 2012.  It is part of the Richmond, Virginia Museum of the Confederacy.

Then we toured the Battlefields.

Then we drove on to Gettysburg, PA.  We spent a couple days in Gettysburg back in 2009, when we stayed at Artillery Ridge Campground, and took the horseback tour of the battlefield.  This time we bought the audio tour on CD and took the tour by car.

This is a barn that took a cannon ball through it’s wall during the battle.

This is what they call a “Witness Tree”.  It was here during the battle.

This was one of the Confederate batteries that took part in the battle

The statue on the left is General Lee, on the right is General Longstreet. They disagreed on how to approach the battle. Longstreet wanted to take a defensive position and let the Union troops come to them, Lee wanted to attack and crush them.

The view from the bottom and the top of Little Round Top. Colonel Joshua Chamberlain of Maine held off several severe attacks from the Confederates. When he was almost out of ammunition, he fixed bayonets and charged down the hill into the Confederate lines and routed them capturing many as well. He would later receive the Medal Of Honor.

Devils Den is a field of granite boulders, supposedly the most haunted area of the battlefield.

General Meade’s view on the left, General Lee’s view on the right, as they watched Pickett’s charge.

Jenny Wade was the only civilian casualty during the battle. She was baking bread for the Union troops, who were around the house. The Confederates were shooting at them when a bullet went through the door, seen in the picture on the left, through an inner door, as seen on the right, and hit her in the back and through her heart. She was working at the brown table.

We went on a ghost tour then an investigation with The Gettysburg Paranormal Association. 

I didn’t get any unusual photos inside the house, but there was a lot of EMF indication in there and I got a lot of orbs outside, over what had been a mass burial ground. The house has been purchased several times, the kitchen has all new appliances, but apparently there is so much paranormal activity in it that no one can live there.

We went back to Devils Den after dark on Friday night to see if we could get any good photos…there were many with Spirit Orbs in them.

There are many reenactors that come to Gettysburg.

There was a group of them at our campground, we chatted with them for a while the morning we left.

We left Gettysburg and spent a couple days visiting Pat (John’s brother) and Chris in Thomaston, CT.  It was great seeing them again & we’re hoping they make it up to Maine to visit this summer.

Then we drove on to Hanscom AFB MA, just outside of Boston.  Spent 3 nights at the RV park on base and took a day trip into Boston.  John was stationed there, in the Coast Guard back in the 70’s, so we went to check out his old base and see some of Boston.  We ate lunch in Little Italy and took a trolley tour of the city.  Stopped in the original Cheers bar and had a beer and bought a T-Shirt.  Boston has tons of historical buildings crammed in amongst all the modern city…it’s really just too crowded and hectic for a country girl like me.

Then we headed on to Maine…