Gettysburg’s $7.50 Fee is In Effect
By Kathryn Jorgensen
(November 2008 Civil War News)

GETTYSBURG, Pa. — The National Park Service (NPS) and the Gettysburg Foundation instituted a $7.50 single admission fee for museum exhibits, the film “A New Birth of Freedom” and the Cyclorama painting effective Oct. 2.

Elements of the initial proposed fees were altered and expanded following the 30-day comment period that ended Sept. 29.

Then they had to be adjusted again after movie and Cyclorama tickets sold out hours before the museum and visitor center closed on the opening weekend and Columbus Day Weekend, which Park spokesman Katie Lawhon said was busier than July 1-3.

When tickets to the movie and cyclorama are sold out, visitors can opt to pay $5 (adults) and $3 (youth) to see the museum galleries. When the tickets sold out the first weekend visitors were charged $7.50 and given movie and Cyclorama tickets for the following day.

The new fees replaced the $12 admission for the movie and painting that was supposed to start with the official opening of the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center in late September. The fee adjustments are needed because projected revenues from the $8 charge for the movie were almost $2 million below expectations.

Lawhon said, “The National Park Service carefully considered the comments we received and we made a number of changes to the original proposal in direct response to the issues raised.”

Here’s the new fee schedule:
Adult $7.50
Seniors and Military $6.50
Adult group (16+ visitors) $6.50
Youth (ages 6-18) $5.50
Youth group (16+ visitors) $5.00

As before, the visitor center, battlefield and national cemetery, parking, ranger programs and research facilities are free.

According to a fact sheet the new rates, as modified, reflect several changes. “Youth” was expanded from ages 6-12 to 6-18 in order to make a visit more affordable for families and school groups. Senior citizens and military will pay $6.50.

Two- and three-day passes for youths and adults are offered, as well as a new annual pass of $32 per person or $63 per family. One chaperone for every 10 students and one person for every 40 group visitors will get free admission.

Four free community-appreciation days for area residents will be held on Veterans Day; Martin Luther King Day; Presidents Day; and a “Back to School” day each year in early September.

The NPS Golden Age and Golden Eagle passes will not be honored, since the local fees go to the Gettysburg Foundation, not the NPS.

According to an NPS/Foundation statement 572 comments about the proposed fees were submitted during the comment period. Approximately 56 percent supported an “all-in-one” fee. Another 5 percent suggested lower fees. Thirty-four percent of the responses opposed the proposed fee change while 5 percent of the comments took no position.

Some respondents made suggestions. “Some of these included a charge for parking, separate (and lower) individual fees to each of the three venues, or donation boxes instead of fees. A few suggested that the entire problem could be avoided if the Gettysburg Foundation cut its costs.”

Responding to these ideas, the press release noted the visitor center has two donation boxes that historically generate $40,000 a year. The Foundation’s largest cost is salaries for 42 full-time and 62 part-time employees who provide ticketing, reservation, custodial and visitor services. Energy is the second-highest expense.

The fee proposals were aired in local media and through the Internet. A Hanover Sun story raised the question if the Foundation solicited support for the fees when it mailed 22,000 donors asking their opinions. A Foundation spokesman told the newspaper that the letter was an effort to gather “honest” opinions and was not intended to influence comments.

The proposed fees were also mailed during the comment period to park guides, the park’s mailing list and members of the Friends of the national Parks at Gettysburg.

Some 100 people attended a mid-September visitor center meeting about the fees. According to local press reports a majority of the speakers, including local business owners, opposed the fees and wondered if charging battlefield admission was next.

One of them noted that it would take 52,364 admissions to pay Foundation President Robert Wilburn’s 2006-07 salary of $392,735. Park Superintendent John Latschar defended the salary, calling Wilburn among the best fundraisers in the country, according to local newspapers.