The Gettysburg Heritage Center and Museum

The Gettysburg Heritage Center, Museum and Gift Shop is one of Gettysburg's largest gift shops offering a wide array of collectibles, books, souvenirs, clothing, trinkets and other items. It's located at 297 Steinwehr Avenue in Gettysburg Pennsylvania and is open year-round to visitors. It's free to shop at their gift shop, but if you want to tour the museum, you'll need to pay an admission fee.

When visiting the museum, you'll want to allow at least 75-90 minutes in your schedule. On the day that we visited, we spent a good 70 minutes in the museum and an additional 20 minutes or so in their gift shop doing some souvenir shopping.  In addition, they we're holding a re-enactment outside on their property and we spent 20 minutes enjoying that too. You'll find plenty of free parking on-site.

Admission to the museum for adults age 18 and over is $8.95 per person, children ages 6 to 17 years of age is $6.95 per person and children under the age of 6 years are free with a paying adult. When planning your visit, I find it best to visit during a weekday when they're less busier. During the weekends and during the tourist season, they can get very busy with bus loads of tourists coming and going. Then the buses are there, it can get extremely crowded.

Some of the exhibits in the museum are in 3-D which makes it really fun to see. After you pay your admission, the staff will lend you a pair of 3-D glasses for you to use during your museum tour. After your done with your visit, they do expect you to return the glasses. As you walk around you'll see panels and info plaques hanging up on the wall and when you look at those while wearing the 3-D glasses, you're in for a real treat. My husband thought all of this was pretty cool to experience.

This attraction focuses on giving you information about Gettysburg before the 3-day battle, during the battle and after the battle had ended. You'll learn what life was like for the people who lived in Gettysburg by viewing little videos, looking at artifacts, reading historical documents, viewing the interactive displays and of course, those 3-D programs are really informative too!

One of the exhibits that I really enjoyed seeing was their exhibit of what it was like for the soldiers who got wounded during the civil war and how they got their medical care. Often times it was rendered right on the battlefield or in one of the make-shift hospitals that were set up in a civilian's home or a nearby church. Of course...back in the late 1880's, they didn't have the technology or medical advances that we have today, so many of these soldiers died. The photo above depicts a union soldier during a leg amputation.

The museum really focuses on educating you about the town of Gettysburg, the people who lived there and their stories. It was really fascinating to learn more about some of these people and the trying times that they all had to go through. I really enjoyed seeing how people dressed back in the 1880's and how they lived. It's nothing like how we all live today in modern times.

The Gettysburg Heritage Center & Museum is a definite must-see and must-do when visiting Gettysburg! It's one of the nicest museums in the area and the admission price is very affordable. If you're interested in learning more about the town of Gettysburg, the Civil War and/or President Abe Lincoln, you'll find all kinds of great information at the Gettysburg Museum.

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