are offered including the
private President’s Car;
there’s also a wine and
cheese option.
The Railroad Museum
of Pennsylvania (%717-
687-8628; http://www.rrmuseumpa.
org; Rte 741; adult/child
$10/8; h9am-5pm Mon-Sat,
noon-5pm Sun, closed Sun
Nov-Mar; c) has 100
gigantic mechanical
marvels to climb around
and admire, but even
more delightful is the
HO-scale National Toy
Train Museum (%717-687-
8976; http://www.nttmuseum.org;
300 Paradise Lane; adult/child
$6/3; h10am-5pm May-Oct,
call for hours off-season;
c). The push-button
interactive dioramas are
so up-to-date and clever
(such as a ‘drive-in movie’
that’s a live video of kids
working the trains), and
the walls are packed
with so many gleaming
railcars, that you can’t
help but feel a bit of that
childlike Christmas-
morning wonder. Stop at
the Red Caboose Motel
next to the museum –
you can climb the silo in
back for wonderful views($0.50) and kids can
enjoy a small petting zoo.4 p155
The Drive » Continue north
on S Ronks Rd past farmland
scenery in Ronks (p155), cross
busy Rte 30 and carry on for 2
miles to Bird-in-Hand. Hungry?
Smoketown’s Good ‘N Plenty
Restaurant (p154) is a mile west
of Bird-in-Hand on Rte 340 at
the intersection with Rte 896.5 Bird-in-Hand
The primary reason to
make your way to thisTRIP HIGHLIGHTStart: 1 Lancaster
Take US 30 west (also called Lincoln Hwy) for 55 miles into downtown Gettysburg.
This tranquil, compact and memorial-laden town saw one of the Civil War’s most
decisive and bloody battles for three days in July, 1863. It’s also where, four
months later, Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address consecrating, eulogizing
and declaring the mission unfinished. At only 200-plus words, it’s one of the most
defining and effective rhetorical examples in US history. Much of the ground where
Robert E Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia and Major General Joseph Hooker’s Union
Army of the Potomac fought can be explored – either in your own car with a map
and guide, on an audio CD tour, a bus tour or a two-hour guided ranger tour ($65
per vehicle). The latter is most recommended but if you’re short on time it’s still
worth driving the narrow lanes past fields with dozens of monuments marking
significant sites and moments on the battle.
Don’t miss the massive new Gettysburg National Military Park Museum &
Visitor Center (%717-334-1124; http://www.gettysburgfoundation.org; 1195 Baltimore Pike; adult/
child $12.50/8.50; h8am-5pm Nov-Mar, to 6pm Apr-Oct) several miles south of town, which
houses a fairly incredible museum filled with artifacts and displays exploring every
nuance of the battle; a film explaining Gettysburg’s context and why it’s considered
a turning point in the war; and Paul Philippoteaux’s 377-foot cyclorama painting of
Pickett’s Charge. The aforementioned bus tours and ranger-led tours are booked
here. While overwhelming, in the very least, it’s a foundation for understanding the
Civil War’s primacy and lingering impact in the nation’s evolution.
The annual Civil War Heritage Days festival, held from the last weekend of
June to the first weekend of July, features living history encampments, battle re-
enactments, a lecture series and book fair that draws war reenactment aficionados
from near and wide. You can find re-enactments throughout the year as well.GETTYSBURG
DETOUR:
NEW.JERSEY.&.PENNSYLVANIA.TRIPS.12
.PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH COUNTRY