In addition to ten featured historic Inns, Yuletide Gettysburg will feature:
THE ADAMS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: Volunteers will be staffed on all four floors of Schmucker Hall (“Old Dorm”), where you will have the opportunity to view the many interesting collections housed in this historic building. In 1826, the Lutheran Church established its first seminary in America. ‘Old Dorm’ was built in 1832 and housed the Seminary’s classrooms and dorms. During the Battle, the cupola was used by General John Buford to scout Confederate movements down the Cashtown Road. The building was also used as a field hospital, with an estimated 600 wounded soldiers passing through its doors.
THE SEMINARY RIDGE HISTORIC PRESERVATION FOUNDATION: Volunteers will be leading tours of the Reverend Schmucker House, built in 1833 for Dr. Schmucker and his family. Dr. Schmucker founded the Seminary in 1826 and founded Gettysburg College in 1832. He was a well-known abolitionist, and his home may have been a stop on the Underground Railroad.
HISTORIC CHURCH TOURS OF DOWNTOWN GETTYSBURG: This tour will include:
Gettysburg Presbyterian Church: Used as a hospital for the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac. President Abraham Lincoln attended a service here while in town to dedicate the Soldiers’ National Cemetery. While they lived in Gettysburg, the Eisenhower family attended services here.
Saint Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church: Used as a hospital for several hundred Confederate and Union soldiers. You will hear first-person impressions of Father Corby, Colonel Huidekoper, Mother Norris, and Sallie Myers. Inside the church, bronze plaques and stained-glass windows depict historic events.
Trinity United Church of Christ: Used as a hospital by the Union Eleventh Corps. You will hear narrated accounts of the gruesome scene in and around the church by wounded soldiers, Army doctors, and local civilians.
THE DANIEL LADY FARM: Open to the public for touring exclusively for this event! See the ongoing restoration of a Confederate Hospital by the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association. Some floorboards have visible blood stains.
CANDLELIGHT AT CHRIST LUTHERAN CHURCH: Enjoy this beautiful presentation with live period music and a Civil War era sing-along that tells the authentic history of Christ Lutheran Church as a Civil War Hospital. You will hear readings from the personal journals of a nurse and a wounded soldier as well as accounts of a chaplain’s tragic death and a woman’s miraculous escape.
LIVE NATIVITY SCENE: Sponsored by Gettysburg’s United Methodist Church. Enjoy the beauty of living Nativity along with Christmas carolers and refreshments. Will be held on the grounds of the American Civil War Museum on Steinwehr Avenue.
Additional partners, whose events require an additional ticket purchase include:
SCHRIVER HOUSE MUSEUM: Dedicated to the civilian experience during the Battle of Gettysburg. The home of George and Hettie Shriver appears much the way it did when it was first built in 1860. Follow a rare candlelight tour with a guide in period dress, as they recount the harrowing story of the Shriver family’s experiences.
BOYD’S BEARS: “The World’s Most Humongous Teddy Bear Store”. Boyd’s Bears will offer special discounts to tour their Bear Factory. Additionally, private to Yuletide Gettysburg ticket holders, Boyd’s Bears is offering ‘Dinner with Santa Claus’ on Saturday evening.