Seminary Ridge Preservation Group Gets Funds
By Deborah Fitts
GETTYSBURG
A new nonprofit organization formed to preserve
and interpret the dramatic events that transpired on the grounds
of the Lutheran Theological Seminary during the battle of Gettysburg
has won a $250,000 grant to kick off the effort.
The Seminary Ridge Historic Preservation Foundation,
an offshoot of the seminary, will use the money to hire a part-time
executive director and begin planning projects.
Among the proposals are a self-guided walking
tour of the 52-acre campus, a focal point of fighting on July
1, 1863; exhibits; an "academic center" for research; and educational
programs centered on the battle that will address issues of
morality and culture as well as history.
Likely the largest single use for the grant will
be to fund plans and engineering for restoration of the three
campus buildings that were present during the battle.
The most famous of these is Old Dorm, or Schmucker
Hall, from whose cupola Union cavalry commander John Buford
studied advancing Confederates as the battle was joined. It
was soon transformed into a hospital. Among necessary improvements
are climate controls for the holdings of the Adams County Historical
Society, which is the major tenant in the building.
The $250,000 grant comes from the Pennsylvania
Department of Community and Economic Development. State Treasurer
Barbara Hafer made the announcement in a May press conference.
"Gettysburg is the pinnacle of the Civil War,
perhaps its best-recognized defining moment," said Hafer, who
was instrumental in launching the foundation as a member of
the President's Cabinet for Counsel and Advancement at the seminary.
"By working to more fully understand what happened
at Gettysburg, as well as the broader causes and consequences
of the Civil War, we hope to understand ourselves better as
Americans and address the aftermath of those issues that still
confront our society."
Seminary spokesman John Spangler predicted that
the foundation will open a visitor center within a year, probably
in Krauth House, another of the three structures that witnessed
the battle. Spangler said the foundation has the "dual purpose"
of preserving the historic nature of the seminary properties
and also "telling the history." "The scope is broader than day
one" of the battle, Spangler said. "We stand ready to help the
National Park Service tell the broader, cultural story" of the
war, including slavery, the Underground Railroad and hospital
life. Seminary founder Samuel Schmucker, whose brick home is
the third building remaining from the battle, was an active
abolitionist. Confederate troops ransacked the home in retaliation
when they occupied the ridge. The basement of the home has hidden
rooms that provided a refuge for fugitive slaves after they
crossed the Mason-Dixon line a few miles south of town.
Hafer commented, "So, Reverend Schmucker, the
great battle that turned the tide of the war began at the very
spot where you had been working and praying to God for an end
to slavery. Talk about having your prayers answered!"
Seminary president and foundation trustee Darold
Beekman noted that "the importance of Seminary Ridge" involves
not only the battle, "but it also extends to the monumental
moral and cultural issues giving rise to the Civil War Ü issues
such as slavery. The consequences of this great conflict continue
to permeate our society today and deserve further exploration
if we are to truly understand the American identity."
Seminary officials noted that their interest in
addressing moral and cultural issues of the war coincided with
a new thrust by the Park Service to broaden interpretation beyond
battle action.
The foundation has created a website, www.seminaryridge.org,
and has produced a brochure to help recruit members.
