A brand-new visitor center at Gettysburg National Military Park opens today. The building, designed to look like a 19th-century barn, brims with multimedia presentations, a feature film "experience" and hundreds of thousands of Civil War artifacts.
The new 22-minute film is narrated by Morgan Freeman and focuses on both the battle and its important aftermath. (While the fighting only lasted three days, it took four months for Abraham Lincoln to visit the site and deliver what came to be known as the Gettysburg Address.)
The visitor center will also house the Gettysburg Cyclorama. The 360-degree painting is currently being restored, but should be back on view by September. And of course walking the battlefield itself is still the main draw.
Interestingly, the new visitors center is LEED-certified as a green building, so you can count this as both a learning holiday and green travel.
Related Stories:
· Gettysburg National Military Park [Official Site]
· New Visitor Center Opens at Gettysburg [NPR]
· National Parks coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: JonnyJonJon]]]>