Touring the Civil War Monuments on Oak Ridge - Gettysburg Battlefield

Over the past year we've been making several visits down to Gettysburg to tour the Gettysburg Battlefield. In my honest opinion, if you really want to study the monuments and memorials, it needs to be done over several days and if possible, on several trips.

Every time we go down there we take along our Official Guidebook from the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center. If you're looking for one of the best guidebooks, I highly recommend this one. The ISBN: 978-1-935442-07-3 and it's published by the Gettysburg Foundation and Beckon Books.

On one of our recent trips down to the Gettysburg Battlefield we spent several hours just touring the monuments in Oak Ridge. Today, we're going to share some of what we saw with our readers. They're not in any particular order, but all are found in that section of your battlefield tour. I've included links throughout my post, so that you can learn more about each monument.

The 17th Pennsylvania Calvary Monument is found on Buford Avenue. This is one of our favorite monuments in Oak Ridge. It's made out of granite and stands approximately 12 feet tall. When you see this monument, walk around to the back, so you can see the reverse side.

The 6th New York Cavalry Monument is in our top ten of favorites too! This one is located on Buford Avenue and stands 25 feet tall. The 6th New York Cavalry was commanded at the Battle of Gettysburg by Major William Elliott Beardsley. Check out those horse heads on the side and the "castle-like" top to it. It's quite impressive when you see it.

Located in the Oak Ridge area you'll find an observation tower where you can park your car and get out and walk around. If you're in good physical health, you can climb the two flights of stairs up to the observation deck. Once up there, you can see for miles and miles, on a clear-weather day. You'll find it located very close to Doubleday Avenue.

One of the largest monuments on the entire battlefield is the beautiful "The Eternal Light Peace Memorial" that is located up on Oak Hill. The memorial was dedicated by President Franklin Roosevelt on July 3rd, 1938. The gas-lit eternal flame burned until 1979 when it was replaced by electricity, but it was restored in 1988. When taking your tour, this is definitely a MUST-SEE!

There is plenty of free parking located at The Eternal Light Peace Memorial and I highly recommend that you park and get out and walk around. You'll find additional monuments, historical markers and cannons sitting on each side of the memorial that you can explore. Standing up here on Oak Hill will give you some incredible views across the farmlands and through some areas of the battlefield.

This is just a few of the beautiful Civil War monuments that you'll see when touring the Oak Ridge area of the Gettysburg Battlefield. You'll learn a lot when touring this area and frankly, you'll get some of the prettiest views of Adams County too!

If you plan on visiting Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and touring the battlefield, you'll find several travel features on Gettysburg right here on our blog. You can check out other area activities to do, find great places to stay and make sure you check out our dining options too!