GDG- Cost of the new Museum

[Charles Kann]

Esteemed gdg member wrote:

>>>>  I'm not the most hardcore Civil War buff and have a long way to go to
know all there is to know.  But one thing I do know, is that Gettysburg has
a world-class museum and visitor center in town now.  Wow!  That's about all
I can say about what I saw last night at the sneak peek.  Now I know where
$104 million went.  They spared no expense on the facility and it's a gem.
I'm not sure how you could be disappointed in it as someone else mentioned,
because it is one of the nicest museums I've been to.    <<<<

I am the person who was disappointed when I saw the new museum.  To say I
was disappointed is actually an understatement.  I remember the day when
$100M bought something!  I still think of $100M as "real money".  (I know I
am a quaint, old geezer.  But $100M here, $100M there, pretty soon you are
talking about real money).  There is a need for $3M to buy land on the
battle field for sale right now.  For "noise" in the new VC budget, probably
less than to restore Ziegler's Grove, you could probably save all that
endangered land (the real jewel of Gettysburg), and do much more.  I can't
help but feel that the Park Service and Gettysburg Foundation were taken.

But I would love to know what I am missing here.   I have seen many museums
that were as nice (or nicer), and were no where near as expensive.  What was
so "WOW" about this museum?  I am sorry, but whatever it was, I missed it.
I did not see anything that was such new technology, or anything that
engaged me.  I left thinking "that was nice, but $100M?".  I hope someone
can outline what was so great, wow, cutting edge, and impressive.  Maybe I
have a jaundiced eye, but compared to the Smithsonian, the museums around
Williamsburg like Jamestown Colony, or even Monocacy Battle Field in
Frederick I did not see what was incredibly better.  And I really wonder if
my eye is that much more jaundiced than the typical middle school student.

On top of that, I saw nothing that made me want to rush out to the
battlefield.  That should have been the central focus of the new VC and
museum.  I do not think it met its purpose.

I will give my age away when I say when I was young I saw an episode of "The
Dick Van Dyke Show".  Laura bought Rob a very nice new watch.  When Rob
found out how much it was, he said "for that money you could have bought me
a piano, and had enough money left over to have bought me ... a nice watch".
I can't help but feel for $100M there would have been money to have bought a
nice park, with enough left over to have bought a nice, new VC.

Chuck Kann