MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND
Pennsylvania trip was one to remember
Keystone state history is significant
I’ve traveled around the world during my military career. A good portion of that travel required a lot of miles on the road.
I’ve driven through Pennsylvania countless times, but aside from a week-long trip to York about 20 years ago, I never took more time to explore the Keystone State.
On a whim, I decided to spend Memorial Day weekend in Lancaster, home to a large Amish population. As fate would have it, my daughter, who traveled with me, booked a room in the heart of Amish Country.
We saw countless horse buggies carrying Amish people throughout Lancaster. It was odd initially, but we got used to seeing the carriages traveling the roadways.
I put my camera to use but opted not to capture the Amish on film. According to The American Experience on PBS, most “Amish today will not pose for a photograph. Considering it a violation of the Second Commandment, which prohibits the making of “graven images,” the Amish believe any physical representation of themselves (whether a photograph, a painting, or film) promotes individualism and vanity, taking away from the values of community and humility by which they govern their lives.”
Instead, I attempted to photograph their buggies at an angle that would not allow their faces to be seen or even from behind. I did manage to capture an older gentleman on camera but deleted the photo.
I prefer photographing landscapes, and Lancaster did not disappoint. Rolling hills and farmland, silos, and even solitary trees would catch my eye and lens.
On Sunday, we traveled to Gettysburg, about a 90-minute drive from Lancaster. Parking outside the Gettysburg National Cemetery, I had no idea what awaited me.
The cemetery, in my opinion, is second only to Arlington National Cemetery in terms of honoring fallen soldiers. Numerous grave markers are listed only with a number. A few Civil War soldiers are listed by name, but they are few. One headstone bears this inscription: “UNKNOWN 425 bodies.” There are other headstones with the name of a state and the number of bodies lying beneath.
The cemetery is beautiful, and the grounds are immaculate. On the path encompassing the Civil War burial grounds, visitors will find poems written to remember the dead. One such verse reads:
“No vision of the morrow’s strife
The warrior’s dream alarms.
No braying horn nor screaming fife
At dawn shall call to arms.”
All told, more than 3,500 Union soldiers are interred at the cemetery. According to the park’s website, just a few Confederate soldiers are buried there.
Beyond the gates of the cemetery lays more than 6,000 acres of Pennsylvania land that makes up the Battle of Gettysburg.
The size of the individual battlefields is incredible. Imagine hand-to-hand fighting as cannons fire into the Confederate and Union lines. When you look down on the battlefield from the artillery’s point of view, who could blame soldiers of either side for being afraid?
Below are some photos I’ve stitched together as a panorama to show how wide-ranging the battlefields were. I can’t begin to fathom what soldiers were thinking leading up to and during the battles.
Sadly, our trip to Pennsylvania ended too soon. I could have stayed another week, but the work week beckoned for my daughter. I pulled off the road near a farm field to capture one last scene.
If you enjoyed this very abbreviated tour of Lancaster and Gettysburg, please consider giving me a follow. I have less than 100 followers and Medium apparently decided they could no longer afford to send out another 13-cent check to my bank account. Given the economy these days, I could really use that dime and three pennies.
