Gettsburg, PA - So much history for an educational tour

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There’s a reason Gettysburg, Pa, is among the top student travel destinations in America. With 15,000 motorcoaches a year, this small town not only shares its rich Civil War history well, it’s got group travel down to a science.

We embarked on a two-night trip there this fall and were surprised about how many places there were to visit. Most obvious – and popular – were the Gettysburg National Military Park (the battlefield), and the newly opened Visitor Center, but spread throughout town are museums on every corner – all open for group business.

We started our visit at the Visitor Center, where tickets include admission into the incredible museum, the famous Cyclorama Painting and a film that helps visitors understand how Gettysburg fit into the Civil War and what led up to the battle in Pennsylvania. In all, the experience took more than two hours. The Visitor Center has a great book store and restaurant on-site.

Like most groups that visit Gettysburg, we hired a Licensed Battlefield Guide, some of the best tour guides in the country. Our guide boarded our bus at the Visitor Center and we embarked on a two-hour tour through all three days of the battlefield. The guide answered questions and did an amazing job of explaining the complicated battle to our group.

We also visited a few other museums – like the David Wills House and the Shriver House – and had allotted some time for the group to visit shops in Downtown Gettysburg. The group enjoyed the time on their own and found a lot of interesting shops and art galleries – even some neat Civil War stores.

Our group stayed in a hotel east of Gettysburg along U.S. Route 30 among a cluster of hotels and restaurants, but there is lodging scattered across the region, including downtown and on Steinwehr Avenue, a tourist hub that includes museums, gift shops and restaurants.

Steinwehr Avenue features an array of restaurants perfect for group trips, including the Dobbin House Tavern and . Restaurants are located throughout the town, some more suitable for smaller groups.

While Gettysburg slows down in the evening, many visitors – especially students – love to take candlelit ghost tours, one of the more popular attractions in Gettysburg. The prices aren’t bad and the students really enjoy the tours. They weave the history of the Civil War in with the stories that haunt people today. Tickets are less than $10, and we tipped our guide for a great tour.

Before we left Gettysburg, we made one last stop at Soldiers’ National Cemetery, where Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address. It was a solemn, but beautiful place. Lincoln’s speech is marked with a modest monument in the cemetery, but it was the unmarked gravestones that impressed the group so much. More than 3,500 Union soldiers are buried there, many of them unidentified.

We were pleasantly surprised with how much our group seemed to enjoy the history, even after two days. We didn’t get everywhere – there are many more museums and tours to take.  A lot to do for an educational tour, but a perfect location for a class trip.