Little Round Top & Devil's Den Closure

[Albany Rifles]

If you were thinking of visiting Gettysburg and visit 2 of it's iconic sites you need to get a move on.

TBH I am glad this is happening. I was last there in 2019 and the area has been loved to death. It is desperately needed.

Little Round Top at Gettysburg National Military Park will soon close for more than a year

Updated: Mar. 21, 2022, 11:04 a.m. | Published: Mar. 21, 2022, 11:04 a.m.The monument to Brig. Gen. Gouverneur Kemble Warren is shown south of Gettysburg on Little Round Top in Gettysburg, Pa., Monday, June 23, 2020. (Photo by Jose F. Moreno/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)Jose F. Moreno/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP

A rehabilitation project will close a famed section of the Gettysburg battlefield.

The National Park Service has announced that the Gettysburg National Military Park will be closing Little Round Top to the public some time in the spring of 2022.

The closure will allow staff to do necessary work to preserve the site, as well as make changes to the surrounding areas to allow for easier access to visitors.

“The rehabilitation of Little Round Top will address overwhelmed parking areas, poor accessibility and related safety hazards, significant erosion, and degraded vegetation,” reads a statement on the National Park Service’s website. “The scope of the project will reestablish, preserve, and protect the features that make up this segment of the battlefield landscape. This project will also enhance the visitor experience with improved interpretive signage, new accessible trail alignments, and gathering areas.”

A date for the start of the closure has not yet been announced, but is expected to begin between March 20 and June 21. Work is then expected to take approximately 18 months to complete.

Similar restoration projects are under was at Devil’s Den, another famed landmark on the Gettysburg battlefield. The closure of that area began on March 21 and is expected to continue for six months.

[tbm3fan]

Good thing I saw it in 1965, with the Boy Scouts, when nobody was there. Good thing I saw Yellowstone in 1966, also when no one was there, as evidenced by my pictures being easily devoid of people. Wouldn't want to visit today as I'm sure they aren't much different than being in Times Square for New Year's.

[Albany Rifles]

Good thing I saw it in 1965, with the Boy Scouts, when nobody was there. Good thing I saw Yellowstone in 1966, also when no one was there, as evidenced by my pictures being easily devoid of people. Wouldn't want to visit today as I'm sure they aren't much different than being in Times Square for New Year's.

I can honestly say I have probably been on top of Little Round Top 30+ times in all kinds of conditions...driving rain, blowing snow, broiling sun, glorious sun and nice breeze. My first trip was in the spring 1971 with my Dad. I have taken part and led staff rides, at least 10 Boy Scout troop hikes and fun trips with friends and family.

And it is not even in my Top 5 battlefields to visit!

But it is in dire need of help. I think the NPS has $12 billion backlog of needed repair work. This is being paid for by funds from Great American Outdoors Act, legislation that will dedicate $1.3 billion annually for 5 years to NPS work. It's desperately needed and one of the few good things Trump did while in office.

[DOR]

Saw it in 1971.

[Albany Rifles]

New date for start is mid-June 22 and expected to take 16 - 18 months.

I am trying to find site plans. I will post those and any updates here.

[Albany Rifles]

BTW the Devil's Den has reopened but the LRT remains closed. I suggest until it does spend more time on East Cemetery Hill & Culp's Hill.

[Amled]

A few years ago I had the opportunity of spending a week-end at Gettysburg.
A very well restored battle-field,
I did get the opportunity to ask one of the tour guides, something that been nagging at me, regarding; Pickets Charge.
In the various descriptions I've read regarding the charge, the Virginians maintained cohesion;
right until they reached that "dammed" fence in the centre of the field, and got hung up!
My question to the guide, was "Why didn't the Confederate artillery target the fence before the men reached it"?
Her answer was that; that while she wasn't an expert, that it probably ran counter to accepted usage!
Nearly same answer I've gotten from others, but it doesn't make sense to my layman mind.
While the Virginians were moving; they'd be a harder target, then when gathered at the fence trying to get over, where they'd be a massed target!

[Officer of Engineers]

A few years ago I had the opportunity of spending a week-end at Gettysburg.
A very well restored battle-field,
I did get the opportunity to ask one of the tour guides, something that been nagging at me, regarding; Pickets Charge.
In the various descriptions I've read regarding the charge, the Virginians maintained cohesion;
right until they reached that "dammed" fence in the centre of the field, and got hung up!
My question to the guide, was "Why didn't the Confederate artillery target the fence before the men reached it"?
Her answer was that; that while she wasn't an expert, that it probably ran counter to accepted usage!
Nearly same answer I've gotten from others, but it doesn't make sense to my layman mind.
While the Virginians were moving; they'd be a harder target, then when gathered at the fence trying to get over, where they'd be a massed target!

What exactly is a fence? It's a wall full of holes, big holes. What exactly is your artillery going to do? Put more holes in a wall already full of holes? The fence would still be up. Just it would be down in a few areas which would either funnel Picket's men into a KZ or break up the formation with some companies/platoons rushing forth while the rest gets lag behind climbing the fence, ie breaking up the division into smaller more vulnerable echelons.

[Amled]

Thanks Sir, it's the most logical explanation I've come across so far!
It was just an inconsistency; that in my layman's eyes, which didn't jell.

[Albany Rifles]

Yeah, as the colonel said civil war artillery was not that accurate to be able to hit the fence along Emmitsburg Road. Also as far as for the charge on 3 July ( I call it Longstreet's charge because it was really the divisions of Pickett's, Trimble and Pettigrew from all 3 corps who fought under Longstreet.) it was pretty much doomed to failure. The Chief of Artillery, Army of the Potomac Henry Hunt had 187 pieces of artillery sighted in on the Confederate columns. And there were 3 brigades of Union Infatry ready to reinforce to seal any breach.

Often overlooked is the Confederate sent their cavalry around the south end of the battlefield to attack the Union from the rear at the same time as the infantry assault but it ran into 2 Union cavalry divisions specifically placed to halt such a move 3 miles east of town. It featured a successful charge by the brigade of a young, brand new brigadier general named George Custer.

While I have visited Gettysburg a few dozen times and have led over a dozen tours it is far from my favorite battlefield. I am more a Western Theater guy...plus I live right outside Petersburg battlefield and volunteer at a park here.

[zraver]

weren't the confederate guns firing uphill? In summer grass the fence may not have even been visible.

[Albany Rifles]

weren't the confederate guns firing uphill? In summer grass the fence may not have even been visible.

The Confederate gun line was sitting on Seminary Ridge...almost the same elevation as Cemetery Ridge. If anything the Emmitsburg Road was below their line of site and would have stood out...sun washed, pale wood against the green of the vegetation on the slope.