Taneytown Road

Taneytown Road was by far the purest of the three roads going south out of town.  In 1963 the only tourist attraction you would see for a while was the huge National Museum on the west side of the road.  

In 1921, George D. Rosensteel, IV opened the Gettysburg National Museum along Taneytown Road, directly across from the Gettysburg National Cemetery. He actively tracked down artifacts related to the battle and the Civil War and built an impressive collection. 

The Rosensteels maintained their museum,  even combining it with another massive collection in the early 60's, but in 1971 the family that had been collecting Civil War artifacts for over a century chose to sell. The new steward was the National Park Service in 1967.  Over 89,000 artifacts and the museum building passed into the hands of the government. The building was expanded numerous times to accommodate increases in tourists (e.g., an auditorium for the electric map).  The Jacobs-Agan-Chewning-Richards-Rosensteel Collection makes up the bulk of the National Park Service artifacts preserved and on display today. 

https://cwmemory.com/2016/08/28/the-return-of-gettysburgs-electric-map/

The cyclorama building and painting on Baltimore St. was purchased by the park service in 1942 and continued to be exhibited in that location for the next thirty years.  The park service intended it to complement the first park service museum which was down the street in the Gettysburg Post Office where tourist orientation talks were held using the battlefield relief model from the St. Louis Exposition. 

https://www.gettysburgdaily.com/1904-relief-map-now-on-display-in-new-visitor-center/

In the early 1960's the painting was moved to the first park visitor's center in Ziegler's Grove just south of the National Museum. .   

The painting is actually called the Gettysburg Cyclorama,  it is 377 feet long, 42 feet high and weighs 12.5 tons.  It resembles a huge circus freak show banner and indeed these type of paintings have generally been associated with hucksterism.  Although quite obsolete in the digital age it retains its considerable curiosity value. 

In September 2008 a restored Cyclorama went on view in new Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center on Hunt Avenue, located away from any areas in which fighting occurred in 1863.

Believe it or not the modernist concrete and glass building in Zeigler's Grove was not as random and out of place as it might appear.  It replaced the Ziegler's Grove observation tower and offered an observation deck for battlefield visitors.   The architects crafted a tourist procession from the huge parking lot through the various segments of the modernist building and out onto the battlefield.  At least for this twelve year-old in the summer of 1963 it was a more dynamic process than the Electric Map.

The proposed demolition of the modernistic building n Ziegler's Grove was a source of some controversy among history and architecture buffs.  Nevertheless, it was razed in early 2013, and the site restored to its wartime appearance.

Fantasyland opened in 1959, and was owned and operated by Kenneth and Thelma Dick on 23 wooded acres (later expanded to 35) on the east side of the Taneytown Road south of General Meade's Headquarters and the present National Park Service Visitors Center. Noted for its beauty, tranquility and cleanliness, the storybook land provided over 100 things for the young and young at heart to see and do. Attractions included an Enchanted Forest and Santa's Village; Fort Apache, which was attacked by live Indians; Rapunsel's Castle, and a dairy barn where you could slide into a haymow. All who entered the park were greeted by a talking twenty-three foot Mother Goose.

Live shows were featured daily. Besides the Cowboy and Indian Show, there was a Vaudeville Show, a Live Animal Show and a Puppet Show. Motor boats and pedal boats were rides offered on the three lakes in the park. The Cannonball Express Train, the Carousel, the Fire Engine, the Sky Ride and the Scenic Pink Tour Train were a few of the other rides available. Delicious food could be bought at eateries such as the Sugar Plum Snack Bar or the Gingerbread House.

The thousands of people who visited this nature lover's paradise every week enjoyed the sculptured landscaping, with thousands of tulips and wild flowers in the spring, colorful flowers in summer and brilliant leaves in fall. Picnic areas were available free and you could have a picture taken with live characters such as Little Red Riding Hood, Santa Claus, and the Fairy Princess.

Over its years of operation, Fantasyland attracted well over one million visitors including Broadway celebrities, members of congress and foreign dignitaries. Some of President Eisenhower's grandchildren worked at the park. President Kennedy's children were frequent visitors.

The Fantasyland property was purchased by the U.S. Government in 1974 under terms that allowed the Dicks to continue to operate the park for an additional ten years. Fantasyland finally closed in October 1980. At the time of this printing, people still ask about the park, saying they have such fond memories of visiting when they were children and wishing to bring their children and grandchildren to the magical wonderland of "Make Believe".

Epilog: Fantasyland is a shadow of its former self. After its purchase by the National Park Service (NPS) and Fantasyland closed in 1980, an entrepreneur bought the attractions and moved them to his own children's amusement park in Indiana. All that remains of the Fantasyland of old is the parking lot, used by the NPS for over-flow parking in the summer time, and the large billboard-like main entrance structure. Briefly considered as the site for a new NPS Visitor Center, current plans for the center call for its construction on land adjacent to the east side of the Fantasyland parcel and the restoration of the Fantasyland site to a more natural setting.