Last summer I visited my first US Civil War battlefield–Antietam. Now that the long, very cold winter is almost ending, it is time to hit the road, or rather the rails, to another Civil War site.
This time it’s Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. Rather than driving for four and half hours and contributing to the car’s wear and tear, we’re getting there by Amtrak. Destination is Baltimore and then a car rental with Enterprise just up the road from Baltimore Penn Station.
The drive to Gettysburg from Baltimore is no less than 1 hour and 30 minutes. I had hired a professional guide in Antietam, who was terrific and a font of information about the front! And a guide will be accompanying us as we drive through the fields of the battlefield in Gettysburg.
I’ve mentioned here previously that I rewatched the excellent movie “Glory,” based on the true story of a Union corporal who commanded one of the first all-Black contingents during the Civil War. The opening scene portrays the deadly fighting at Antietam on September 17, 1862. I re-watched the 1989 movie a few days before traveling to Antietam in order to prepare for the tour.
And then I re-watched another grand film, the 1993 movie Gettysburg starring Martin Sheen, Sam Elliott and Tom Berenger, among others.
Of the two movies, I’ve always found “Glory” to be more captivating than “Gettysburg,” as it tells the tale of the first Black regiments to fight.
I’m probably more interested than I was prior of US history from the Civil War period to, 100 years later, the civil rights battles in the South.
I recently re-watched “Mississippi Burning,” the 1987 movie starring Gene Hackman and William Dafoe.
A powerful film directed by Alan Parker, which is based on Hackman and Dafoe’s efforts to arrest the perpetrators for the slaying of three civil rights workers in Mississippi in the summer of 1964.
Speaking of Mississippi, I’ve never been. I’d like to visit soon, though. Not only for the civil rights history, but the origin of the Blues in the Mississippi Delta.
So it’s four weeks to go to travel to Gettysburg. Not a bad place to visit to start the 2025 Spring and Summer travel season.
The next big travel adventure though isn’t until September to the North—St. John’s Newfoundland!
That will be as far northeastern I’ve traveled on the North American continent since my September 2006 trip to Cape Breton Island.
What a place, especially the views from the western edge of the island facing the St. Lawrence River. But Newfoundland seems more wilder and remote because it’s more north and east.
But these days I prefer a vacation whereby nature sits on the doorstep of an interesting center and downtown. And that’s St. Johns!
