Civilian Symposium, Day 1: Gettysburg

Made it to Gettysburg today. Wandered around the downtown area for a while, including a stop by the David Wills house, where a certain president stayed before delivering a certain well-known 'few brief remarks.'

Yep, Lincoln slept here.

I also got to attend a special program at the battlefield interpretive center's cyclorama, which was very fun.  It was also appropriate, since I'm missing a conservation class to attend the symposium--there was a good hour of the conservation researcher discussing the construction, history, and restoration of the piece.  Then she gave us a guided tour of it.

Cyclorama at Gettysburg.  The perspective was fascinating.
And the rope on this well sort of stole the show.

It was a very up-close-and-personal tour.  I actually got to duck under the painting and see it from the back, where all the seams are visible (unfortunately, the lighting levels were not good for my camera).

But here's a view of the diorama, painting,
canopy, and roof, from below.

See the road?

This is me standing on that road.

Fun fact: the battle detritus in the foreground "diorama" area is donated reenacting gear; they wanted it to needed to look used and weathered.  Apparently, it moves around occasionally as new pieces are added or removed. Also, the plants are all fire-proof.