Who get drawn here????

I was just thinking about all the people I have seen here in Gettysburg. It amazes me how this little town with the big battle attracts people from all over. This is the time of year when families are traveling....so its people from all over the country bringing their children. In a few months, the kids will be back in school and that's when the retired folks start to travel. These retired folks not only come from all over the country but from all over the world. I've met people from France, Italy, England, Australia, Netherlands, Germany, Japan, China and the list goes on and on. What makes people from other countries so interested in the AMERICAN Civil War? I have no answers. I'm not interested in the civil wars that took place in their countries.

But its not just the average tourist that intrigues me, but I think about the famous (and not so famous) people who I've seen out and about. Just last October (I think it was October...it could have been November) I was given a heads up that Alan Alda was going to be getting a tour of the battlefield. So I watched and waited and finally got to see "Hawkeye Pierce" for myself. I've also had the honor to see Ken Burns, Stephen Lang, Neil Armstrong, Jesse Jackson, Jr., and several others. I know that George W. Bush, the president of Jordan, Cal Ripken, Jr, Ty Pennington, Thomas Kinkaid, and many others have been here....and I missed them. What other small town in the U.S.A. can name these names as people who have been out and about the streets of their fair town? I will never approach these people (well, except for Stephen Lang who was standing next to me) to get their autographs. They deserve some time to themselves and they don't need some crazy fan going up to them. What could I possibly say to them that they hadn't already heard a thousand times that day?

I was just thinking about what a special town this is. My town back home is a bit bigger than this one....we have more businesses than this one....more people drive through.....yet I can't ever recall a famous person in my town. If one had arrived, it would have been on the front page of the local paper. Yet, here in Gettysburg, although some make the front page, most don't.

When the movie Gettysburg was being filmed here (unfortunately I didn't live here then), I've heard stories from friends about how they were constantly running into Tom Berenger, Martin Sheen, Jeff Daniels. A daughter of a friend of mine actually went jogging with Martin Sheen one morning (well, he joined her). Another person told me how they sat in a restaurant and in came Sam Elliot. I've heard stories like this from so many people. Some people are still trying to tell me that a few of the people who were in "Gettysburg" have actually bought houses here in the area and are around every now and again. I've yet to see any of them....but they may just blend into the crowd.

Gettysburg is just one of those places that draws people here....its the Mecca of the Civil War world. "You haven't experienced Utopia until you've come to Gettysburg" kind of a thing. There is something that is drawing the average and not so average person here. One of the park rangers calls it the Gettysburg Addictive Disorder....anyone can catch it....and when you do, its incurable. The only thing that cures this Disorder is the annual or semiannual, or weekly trip to the 'Burg. I have a fatal case of it. This disease dragged me away from my family, friends, and all that was familiar to me and left me sitting on a doorstep in downtown Gettysburg, saying to myself "now what???". The "now what" is what I'm doing now....moving on and trying to get to know the Civil War inside and out, trying to learn the movements of the armies here at Gettysburg, and trying to make a life for myself. So far....so good!