Gettysburg Replants 5 Orchards
By Deborah Fitts
January 2005

GETTYSBURG, Pa. - Five orchards that stood during the battle of Gettysburg were recently replanted for the first time in decades, as part of Gettysburg National Military Park's ongoing effort to return the landscape closer to its 1863 appearance.

Park spokesman Katie Lawhon said the 12.5 acres of apple trees represent the first phase in a multi-year project of orchard re-creation. The park's General Management Plan (GMP) calls for establishing 160 acres of orchards in addition to those already in existence.

The park had planned to plant 22 acres of trees this fall in eight orchards, but a number of saplings set aside for the project over the past two years did not survive.

The planting, pegged at $13,953, was partly funded by the Friends of the National Parks at Gettysburg. The Friends bought the trees for about $6,000; the rest of the cost, comprising fertilizing and other site preparation, was borne by the park.

Lawhon noted that at the time of the war most of the orchards "tended to be smaller in size - subsistence orchards associated with the families living nearby."

The Nov. 18 planting included a 2.3-acre orchard at the Trostle Farm, totaling 63 trees; 2.2 acres at the Bushman Farm, 58 trees; 5.7 acres at the Spangler Farm on Pickett's Charge field, 162 trees; 1.4 acres at the Sherfy Farm, also on Pickett's Charge, 38 trees; and 1 acre at the Wentz Farm, across Steinwehr Avenue from Sherfy, 24 trees.

Lawhon noted that the Spangler orchard was 53 trees short on account of the shortage of saplings, and will be completed sometime in the future.

Maps, photographs and other documentary evidence were used as sources for the exact location, size and shape of the orchards. Lawhon noted, however, "We made a decision that while we will have orchards growing on the battlefield, we won't do the detailed work to have a healthy crop of fruit."

The varieties of apple trees planted included Enterprise, Freedom, Liberty, Pristine and Williams Pride. Lawhon said they were chosen because of their resistance to scab, cedar apple rust, powdery mildew and blight. The five orchards were picked as the first to be replanted because the areas are not wooded, making for relative ease of site preparation. The park contracted out for the actual planting work.

At present the park has seven historic orchards in place, including the famous Sherfy Peach Orchard. Orchards are also growing at the Ziegler, Bliss, Slyder, Biggs and Leister farmsteads as well as at Eisenhower Farm. Combined, the orchards comprise about 25 acres.

Among the sweeping provisions of the park's GMP are the removal of 576 acres of non-historic woods (so far nearly 80 acres have been cut), replanting 115 acres that were wooded at the time of the battle (35 acres are done), building 39 miles of new fencing along historic fencelines (so far nearly 5 miles have been completed), and restoring nearly 17 miles of historic farm lanes (2 miles are done).