Powers' Hill

I drove down the Granite Schoolhouse Lane the other day and sort of glanced up at Powers' Hill. I do this so often and it just dawned on me, why don't I spend more time on Powers' Hill and more time studying it??? The hill is located at the intersection of Baltimore Pike and Granite Schoolhouse Lane.

Well, I can say why I don't spend more time on the hill: parking is terrible in the area. You could park at the miniature golf course and cross Baltimore Pike (a very dangerous idea) or you can park alongside Granite Schoolhouse Road (again another dangerous idea....but more for your car than you). Those are pretty much the options. But heading up that hill is ALWAYS a good idea. Hardly anyone ever goes up to see the monuments up there so you can almost be guaranteed total silence while exploring and understanding this hill. I like silence when I'm contemplating the battle.

This hill was used as Slocum's headquarters for the "right wing" of the army. Through a series of misunderstandings, Slocum believed that he was in charge of the "right wing" of the Army of the Potomac....so he used this hill as his headquarters. It was also used as General Meade's headquarters shortly after the cannonade began prior to Pickett's Charge (just to keep everyone on the same page, I will use this term although it has many other names). While Gen. Meade was at Lydia Leister's house (his 1st headquarters) the cannonade began and the shots were over missing the Federal lines. With the Leister house situated behind the Federal lines, it was what was getting shot at....and Meade had to leave for his own safety. The next stop for him was behind LRT and then on to Powers Hill.

This hill was also used as an artillery platform. Knap and Rigby had their guns up there (this was before the hill had become overgrown with trees) and the 77th New York was also located on this hill.

And finally, this hill was used as a Signal Station. They were in communication with the Signal Station on Little Round Top.

When walking around on Powers' Hill, please take note of the private property signs. The entire hill is NOT owned by the NPS so if you go past one of these signs, you will be on someone else's property. But it is tempting to head into forbidden land: below the crest of the hill, you will see some old rusting vehicles. These are trucks from about 50 years or so ago. The trucks are really cool to see....but they belong to someone and they are on their property. We have also found some other interesting things when exploring up there.

If you go down Granite Schoolhouse Road a few hundred yards or so, you can actually see the foundation of the Granite Schoolhouse. My friend, Jackie and I spent a bloody and bruised afternoon wandering around those woods before we found it and it turns out the foundation is right next to the road. There was no reason for us to be getting caught in the thorns (and that in itself is a funny story....when you have to call the other person over to untangle your hair from thorns and tree branches, you know not many people hang out in those woods....that's why you should wear hats when exploring....but I will never learn).

Powers Hill is a seldom heard of area on the battlefield, a seldom studied sector of the battle, and a seldom visited spot. There are a few monuments up there and they need to be remembered just as much as each of the other spots, monuments, and soldiers who fought here at Gettysburg. Sometime, if you haven't already trod up there, take a walk and see what interesting things you can find up there.

My Travels up a Mountain

Back in March, a friend of mine and I climbed a mountain to find a signal station. I didn't realize that when she said, "Climb a mountain", she meant "CLIMB A MOUNTAIN". When I saw the mountain I realized that this was the craziest thing she had ever dragged me along to do and it was, by far! This is why we are known as the "Lucy and Ethel" of the battlefield.

Well, we arrived at the Grotto in Emmitsburg, Md and walked through the Grotto until we came to a hidden little bridge that crossed a small creek and led to a trail up the mountain. The little bridge is sealed off....so we had to walk across the creek, which wasn't too bad. Then we went up the mountain.

The trail that leads up there is a sunken road, more or less. It was easy finding the trail and staying on it but the real problem were the leaves. The leaves came up to our knees. Because of this, we couldn't see what was UNDER the leaves...boulders, holes, etc. This made walking this part of the trail very treacherous. Also, it was like walking through a foot of snow....not easy for moving. This part of the trail is fairly steep and with the leaves, I was pretty much breathless after a couple of hundred yards. But it gets easier. What we found out was that this was the hardest part of the trail.

We continued up the trail and eventually you get out of the sunken road and end up on just a plain mountain trail....nothing fancy....just a trail. Thankfully, someone had marked it with red paint and we were able to follow the paint. The path became less steep, although you will still walk uphill. This went on for what seemed like forever. It took us about an hour to walk up to the top of the mountain. At one point we saw a sign that told us the lookout was 1 mile ahead. I really didn't think that I could go another mile, but I really don't think it was a mile....a couple of hundred yards, maybe. But, who knows, we had NO idea how far we had gone.

Well, we finally reached Indian Lookout. Now, what was the significance of Indian Lookout? It served as a Signal Station during the Battle of Gettysburg. The view from up there was magnificent. We could see forever. We were told that you could see Little Round Top, Big Round Top, the Peace Light, and all sorts of things from up there. The more we stood and looked, the less we saw. I have no idea where these things were. But when we got back, one of the pictures that was taken was examined and sure enough, you COULD see all that. Now we have to go back up there and see just where all this was.

I feel for those poor men who had to climb all the way up there in order to use it as a signal station. What a climb that was for those poor men! But, I'm sure they were used to it. We certainly weren't.

The climb back down the hill was about half the time it took to get up there. There are all sorts of trails at the top of that mountain and unless you know exactly which trail you came up to it from, you can easily get lost. We started to go the wrong way, but soon straightened ourselves out. One good thing to do is mark the trail when you reach the top because the red paint doesn't start appearing until about 100 yards down. It's really easy to get lost up there.

Overall, I'm glad I went up there. It was quite the walk and my feet hurt so bad that when I got home I couldn't even have my blankets on my toes. But despite the pain, I would do it again....but only in the wintertime and with LOTS of water with me.