One Girl and a Big World

Welcome back to the blog!

Fun fact, as I write this on my phone, we are waiting to enter the United States Military Academy at West Point. We are expecting to be waiting for several hours to be cleared for entry so I have taken a portion of the floor and will attempt to pass the time writing this blog.

Gettysburg is a small town in rural Pennsylvania. It is most known for the Gettysburg Battlefield where thousands of Americans lost their lives during the American Civil War. The town has grown slightly and many modern buildings sit right beside the battlefield.

The battlefield itself is about 6000 acres. The small roads within the battlefield are lined with monuments remembering state-specific units, large state memorials, and memorials to the generals and commanders present at the time of the battle. A little fun fact is that recovering soldiers from the battle were brought back to Gettysburg so historians could document where state-specific units where originally positioned.

For those who have read Killer Angels (a superb novel of the Battle of Gettysburg) it provides a great visual for all that happened at the battlefield. As we were told by the guide however, do not use the novel as a history source; it is still a novel.

Our day began at the Gettysburg National Battlefield Visitor Center. We booked a personal tour where the guide drove us around the battlefield while giving us the history and happenings of the area. It was a three-hour tour that covered all three days of the battle. We were able to see the site of the Battle of Little Round Top and Pickett’s Charge. The tour guide pointed out from where the different armies where approaching and the reasons for why the two armies met at Gettysburg to begin with.

After the three hour tour, we hopped over to the Eisenhower House and Farm only a couple minutes drive from the battlefield. The house was the only property President Eisenhower and his wife ever owned. When the house was willed over the the government, Mrs. Eisenhower is said to have remarked, “Looks like we’re back in government housing (paraphrase)!”

The Eisenhower House welcomed various political figures like Prime Minister Nehru of India, Russian leader Nikita Krushchev, and (at the time) Senator Ronald Reagan. The inside of the house displays the wide connection Eisenhower had with the world’s political leaders by showcasing the various gifts they received. Not to toot my own horn or anything like that, but I was pretty proud when I correctly pointed out a painting of the city of Prague. It was given to the Eisenhowers by the Czechoslovakian government (it is now two separate government states: Czech Rep. and Slovakia). The coolest part of the house was the wallpaper beside the staircase that contained the seals of the different US states and territories.

One last fun fact I learned at the house. President Eisenhower, by the time of World War Two, was smoking four packs of cigarettes a day, drinking 27 cups of coffee a day, and was sleeping only four hours every night. This habit was attributed to the seven heart attacks and one stroke he suffered towards the end of his life.

Although Eisenhower may not have been the most skilled when it came to physical health, one of his strengths was his ability to communicate and converse well. He had great people skills and he used his house to his advantage. When he sought to talk to a world leader in peace and one-on-one, he would lead them to his back porch for these talks.

All in all, it was a full day of learning and exploration and I highly recommend visiting Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

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Until next time,

Sofia