Baltimore Pike

In the 1950's one of the first things you would see when Baltimore St.  forked off to the left from Steinwehr Ave.  was the original Cyclorama building.  It was a circular unheated, leaky brick building opened to the public in 1913.  One account states that it was ...

..... on the site of the "Holiday Inn" - now d/b/a as the "1863 Gettysburg Inn".   I believe this is incorrect,  it was instead to the south of the Inn and the Jennie Wade house - between the water tower and the street. 

Of course in the early 60's the Jennie Wade House itself was shifted a block south to make room for the Holiday Inn. 

Across the street was the Dutch Cupboard Restaurant (now Rita's) which was a local institution for decades.  

The old house came close to being destroyed one night in 2021 when a car crashed into the two neighboring houses causing a major fire.

One of these houses was the Blue & Gray Gift Shop which had been in operation since the 1980's. 

The common theme on this street is "facade".   As Gettysburg tourism grew after WWII two story residential housing was converted to commercial storefronts on the ground level and apartments on the second floor,  typically with a columned facade added to the front.  Over the last twenty years many of these transitioned back to up-scale offices,  losing the columned facades and restoring the classical look of the building.  

Across the street from the Gettysburg Tour Center in this 1970's photo is a building  with white columns and the name Charley Weaver on the front.   When the museum opened in the 1959, it was known as the Charley Weaver Museum of the Civil War.  Actor Cliff Arquette was the first owner, and his TV name was assigned to the museum.  He created the character of 'Charlie Weaver' for The Jack Paar Show, and portrayed 'Mrs. Butterworth' in television commercials.  And in character as Charlie he was a fixture on the Hollywood Squares television show until his death in 1974.   

After his death the site became the Soldiers National Museum until it closed in November 2014.  Stripped of its columned facade the house has been restored to its original appearance.  Before attaining tourist trap status with my parents,  the house served as the headquarters of General Howard during the battle and as the National Soldiers' Orphanage Homestead after the battle.  

You can see the marks of the white facade on the brick of the restored storefront.  Note the spacing between the second floor front windows for clues regarding what was removed from the altered structure.   

https://www.gettysburgbattlefieldtours.com/ghost-tours/walking-tours/haunted-orphanage-tour/

The orphanage was originally opened by a woman whose husband had lost his life in battle. Rather than give up their three children, she opened an orphanage where she cared for many parentless or abandoned children. Eventually though, she remarried and her and her children moved to a new home out of the orphanage.

Unfortunately for the children left behind, as well as those who had yet to arrive, the new mother of the house, Rosa Carmichael, didn’t share the original owners love for children. Rosa would apparently inflict cruel and unusual punishment on the children; these punishments included being shackled into the basement, being locked in an outhouse in the middle of winter, and at times being put into the pit.

As these things go I think this is a cool tour and far more relevant to the town of Gettysburg than most past and current options.

Thus the old house hidden behind the columns is revealed again,  with the bronze statue of General Eisenhower the only thing presidential.

On September 3, 1912, ground was broken for a new cyclorama building on Baltimore Street in Gettysburg, on Cemetery Hill (on the site of the Holiday Inn - now d/b/a the 1863 Gettysburg Inn).  It opened to the public in 1913, in time for the 50th anniversary of the battle, once again displayed as a full circular painting, rather than in sections. The unheated, leaky brick building took a further toll on the condition of the painting.

When the museum opened in the 1950s, it was known as the Charley Weaver Museum of the Civil War. Actor Cliff Arquette was the first owner, and his TV name was assigned to the museum. The museums doors closed on Nov. 2. 2014 Soldiers National Museum

children of Sergeant Amos Humiston

777 Baltimore Street

Gettysburg, PA 17325

Civil War Tails at the Homestead Diorama Museum

Address:

785 Baltimore St., Gettysburg, PA

Directions:

Civil War Tails at the Homestead Diorama Museum. South edge of town, on the southbound side of Baltimore St. just south of where it splits from US Hwy 15 BUS/Steinwehr

This attraction features dioramas of battles and camp scenes of the Civil War. The figures in the dioramas are thousands of unique hand-made and hand-painted tiny models of cats in Civil War uniforms. This is a sincere project created with great personal effort, a true labor of love in the modern world.

The Hall of Presidents closed its doors forever on November 27, 2016.  The Hall opened during the Eisenhower administration.  789 Baltimore St.

Gettysburg booster LeRoy E. Smith (1918-1987), who also either built or managed the Gettysburg Battle Theatre, Charlie Weaver's American Museum of the Civil War, the Jennie Wade House, and the Lincoln Train Museum. By the 1963 centennial of the Battle of Gettysburg, purists were complaining that the town had become a tourist mecca like Myrtle Beach. You either loved or hated Smith depending on whether or not you thought that was a good thing.

The Hall of Presidents was technologically hip in 1956, long before Disney World opened an attraction with the same name, and even before there was a talking robot Lincoln at the New York World's Fair. At the Hall of Presidents, visitors are promised that they will not only meet the Presidents but hear them tell their stories in their own voices. This is accomplished through the wizardry of wax dummies, recorded voice actors, and synchronized lightbulbs. To expedite crowd control, the Presidents are chronologically separated into five rooms; push a button and each "talks" for a minute while a light shines on his immobile wax face. When the President nearest to the exit goes dark, you open the door, walk into the next room, push the button, and the timeline of chattering Chief Executives continues.