GDG- preservation and living in Gettysburg - 2 more cents

Fri Apr 25 05:35:52 CDT 2008

Sal,

Then there's the fact that much of Route 15 between Gettysburg and Harrisburg is turning into one big commercial strip.  The last commercial lot fronting on 15 as it goes by Dillsburg sold several years ago.  Go a little further east (without crossing the Susquehanna) and there is Camp Hill with two indoor malls, Camp Hill and Capital City, almost across the street from each other.  Anyone who wants to see the impact that uncontrolled  development has on a battlefield and the entire area need only go to Manassas.  During the week, especially, one takes ones life in one's hands, if the opportunity arises at all, to cross the road between the visitors center and Chinn Ridge since the road has become a major commuter artery. 

Regards,

Margaret
-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: "Sal Prezioso" <redpatch at comcast.net> 

> Esteemed GDG Member Contributes: 
> 
> 
> 
> Greetings all, 
> 
> I'll come out of lurker status for awhile again and contribute my 2 cents for 
> what its worth. As I've stated before, I came to Gettysburg the first time with 
> my parents, later with a fraternity brother whose lived here and whose family 
> was here during the battle, then, after a hiatus, the lure of the place drew me 
> back with friends from Michigan numerous times until I moved here. 
> 
> About 11 years ago, the first stay when I purchased my house found me meeting 
> some people from a radical fringe group I joined for the first time called the 
> GDG - my daughter, friends and I were walking out in the fields in a snow squall 
> listening to a wonderful lesson on the Pipe Creek Line in that year's (maybe the 
> first) Winter Stomp. The begining of my stay here in Gettysburg. 
> 
> Anyway, I've been living here ever since with my wife. I can relate to 
> everything thats been said about living here. I find that you start to develop 
> some different views once you live here because you see things a bit differently 
> than coming as the occasional, albeit frequent tourist. I was getting here 4 - 
> 5 times a year for a couple of years before I moved here, so there was plenty of 
> research and looking at how things would be, but once you get here, you really 
> see things in a unique kind of way. It's the ultimate reality check. 
> 
> For me - going to Hanover or Westminster to get certain things is not the end of 
> the world. It's the trade off for being able to live here with the community 
> being as it is at the moment. Expansion will happen - I believe a Sams Club 
> will end up at the Rt 15 and Rt 30 intersection, but I understand Target may 
> just end up in Hanover, not here, but who really knows - these things change by 
> the conversation - remember, its Gettysburg. 
> 
> Finding the balance between Preservation and Quality of Life is more than a 
> challenge. Its easy to find the "right or wrong" answer if you have any kind of 
> opinion - it just that yours may be right and the other guy is wrong. 
> 
> Let me say, it is easy to find people you would classify as "SELDOM RIGHT - BUT 
> ALWAYS CERTAIN" - never let the facts, common sense, or compromise get in the 
> way of a presentation of their case or a good argument. Great on talking and 
> never listening. 
> 
> Let me say, I'm all in favor of Preservation - I was a member of the old APCWS 
> (Association for Preservation of Civil War Sites - now CWPT) before I ever moved 
> here, and have given to other preservation efforts. I've seen numerous 
> battlefields and historic sites in various states of preservation and dis-repair 
> in many places around the world. This includes numerous Civil War sites, World 
> Wars I and II, Roman, Greek, Minoan, Carthage, Aztec, Mayan and many more. 
> 
> I point this out to put preservation in the larger picture. We see Gettysburg, 
> or Antietam, or Valley Forge or Saratoga and many others. We would like to save 
> it all, and should strive to try, but given the world economic situation - you 
> can only do so much, so we have to find balance. The Romans did not leave much 
> of Carthage, but their own city built on the ruins is pretty incredible. The 
> World War I battlefields of the Isonzo Valley in Northern Italy and Slovenia 
> with over 1,000,000 deaths - not many Americans, but for the Italians, Germans 
> and Austrian-Hungarians - a bit more than a skirmish are in various states of 
> peril. They've limited excavating in Pompeii, because they are having a problem 
> keeping what is already exposed to the atmosphere in decent condition. 
> 
> Back to Gettysburg, there is much to still be done here, but we have it a lot 
> easier than plenty of other places. With so much to be done, we need to find 
> balance and room for compromise, so we have to pick our opportunities. The Camp 
> Letterman site is an unfortunate story, and if possible, it would be nice to 
> have something left. But when its a choice between that and a 100 acre farm 
> with a barn and house that were here during that battle - I'd make my choice 
> with saving the farm, or trying to save what is left at Hunterstown or Sachs 
> Bridge. What about the Cavalry Fields in Fairfield where Grumble Jones did his 
> work in 1863? 
> 
> When you strart lining them up, you have to come up with priorities and some 
> places are going to be lesser and others greater. I don't condem anyone from 
> choosing Letterman, but chances are, there may be a few more areas around here 
> where the effort and dollars might be better spent in the overall scheme of 
> things. Of course, its my opinion and only my 2 cents and I don't begrudge 
> anyone their own choice of priorities. 
> 
> In Gettysburg's case, I'm only suggesting you consider the bigger picture of the 
> entire battlefield area and consider the limited resources and effort that might 
> be available, because much as we'd like to, we just realistically are not going 
> to be able to save it all. 
> 
> A real preservation tip regarding living or moving here - when you are planning 
> on coming, and I know a lot of people are like me and eventually you will, 
> please help everyone out with where you will live. Buy a house or rent an 
> apartment that is already built. Don't add to the development problem by 
> building your "dream house" here - enough of that will eventually turn this area 
> into the "nightmare" you want to leave. 
> 
> Thats probably more than 2 cents, put it on my account. 
> 
> Remember - we need to name the 2008 Muster. Back to lurking. 
> 
> Best regards 
> 
> Sal Prezioso 
> Red Patch 
> Gettysburg 
> 
> 
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