The Gettysburg Cyclorama: North America's Largest Oil Painting May Be Closer Than You Think

North America's largest oil painting?  It's not in an art museum; it's not in a huge city.  It's the Gettysburg Cyclorama, on display at Gettysburg National Military Park.  If you are unfamiliar, a cyclorama is a giant painting you kind of enter--connected canvas hang all around you in a circle, and you view it from a center platform.  In another era, they traveled the country on display.  Recently lovingly restored across five years and housed in a special round barn-like building designed for it, the Gettysburg Cyclorama is shown as it was long ago, making for quite the immersive experience. You'll understand why veterans who saw the cyclorama were said to weep with its authenticity when you visit.

To see the cyclorama, go to the Gettysburg National Military Park's Visitor Center.  You'll pay a reasonable fee ($15 for most adults, $10 for many others--or avoid the fee by joining Friends of Gettysburg) and see a nicely-done film, much of which is voiced by Morgan Freeman, discussing the complexity of the US Civil War.  Then, there's an escalator ride to the cyclorama viewing platform where you will have ample time to hear about the painting and view it.  You can move around on the platform, too, and non-flash photography is allowed.  The painting is 42 feet high and 377 feet in circumference--take your time.  Impressively, the display is as it was long ago, and scenery at the "bottom" of the painting gives everything a truly 3-D feel.  Ask the docents questions--obviously, the presentation doesn't include everything about the painting.  Be sure to find Lincoln, painted in the battle scene (no, he wasn't really there), and the artist himself among the soldiers.

If you go, your entry to the cyclorama also gets you in to the Visitor Center's museum, a focused telling of the story of the US Civil War, truly an epic in American history.  It serves as a detailed introduction to the war if you are not a professional historian, and if you visited the "old" Visitor Center that closed before 2008, this one will be much more modern than you remember.  If you are a first-time visitor to Gettysburg, the cyclorama itself will help you understand how the story of the Battle of Gettysburg was told at the time, an essential part of understanding the US Civil War in American memory.  You'll find the best parking and less crowded viewing very early in the day or in the off season, basically January-March.

National Park Service for the Win: Storytime in Gettysburg, PA

No regular reader of our blog will find it a surprise that we Haltermans are National Park Service (NPS) fans.  We adore the NPS sites we've explored and appreciate the efforts that NPS employees put in to create quality interpretation of all sorts of things-history, natural resources, and much more-to modern audiences.  On a recent trip to Gettysburg National Military Park, one of our favorites, we discovered a special winter children's storytime series: Winter Reading Adventures.  On the date of our trip, Bettye Stroud's The Patchwork Path: A Quilt Map to Freedom explored the role of the Underground Railroad.  Our friends and travelling companions had seen it advertised on Facebook, so we came out to participate.

Storytime events at cultural sites are a great idea--but they can be a little hit or miss.  This one, however, was a HIT.  The Rangers were very well-prepared and used a print book, also displayed using AV technology on a big screen, as well as physical artifacts like quilt squares and lanterns to engage the children.  There was a scavenger hunt of the facility for various quilt squares, and participating kids earned a special high-quality metal bookmark with a seal for the day's book.  There was also a tie-in to other local history, including information about a real Underground Railroad stop at Dobbin House Tavern, a place we often go in town for dinner.  As an added bonus, the bookmark yielded a 15% off book discount on The Patchwork Path in the gift shop.

If you go to a similar event, arrive early in the day for best parking and consider joining Friends of Gettysburg.  We are family-level members this year since we plan more than one trip to the area in 2017, and membership will pay for itself in terms of Cyclorama admission, Wills House admission, and the like for our family of four.  The friendly representatives at the Friends desk at the Visitor's Center can give you immediate membership--and easy upgrades--as well as tips.  For instance, we learned that our membership card will sometimes yield discounts in town at non-NPS sites--just ask!  Again, we found out about this event on Facebook; our experience is that there are many various events including lectures and films often.  This late winter/early spring, there will be a special series on the farms in the area, and J would like to take in an Evening with the Painting event in the Cyclorama.  Not sure what a cyclorama is?  Here's the Halterman Weekend at the Gettysburg Cyclorama!

Explore and More: Gettysburg's Wonderful Playhouse

On a recent trip to Gettysburg, we had a bit of dismal weather.  This situation became a great excuse to check out Explore and More, Gettysburg's children's museum.  K had seen simple ads for it, and in town with our two kids and friends and their two kids, we figured it would be worth a shot for spending a bit of time together.  We wound up turning our "bit of time" into about 4 hours with our combined kids, ages 18 months to 7 years.  Everyone had a great time!

Explore and More, situated conveniently "behind" the town library and walkable from Lincoln Square and Steinwehr Avenue hotels on the Baltimore Street end, is a repurposed older home turned hands-on exploration area.  In short, if we could turn our whole house into a playroom, this is what we would build.  Downstairs, you'll find exploration stations including a giant bubble making area and an imaginative play space with a civil war period "home" and campsite.  Upstairs, there's a small black light room and multiple art activities--as well as our boys' favorite space, a construction/manufacturing "site" with a loft and play office.  K, principal of a career-technical education center, was thrilled to see E, age 7, enjoy it so!  There are also small animals to observe (not pet)--think pet mice in cages--and there's a mini gift shop to boot with educational toys.

K, a kindergarten and first grade teacher in a previous segment of life, was impressed by how developmentally-appropriate the museum is--exploration comes naturally in this environment. The owners are two former teachers--and they work to provide this opportunity for the community without paying themselves.  Therefore, pay your admission happily--it's a good value at $7/kid 2-14 and $5/adult.  Those with the potential to visit frequently should investigate a frequent-visitor punch card; there is no membership available.  The atmosphere is quite welcoming and low key, making the museum an excellent place to frequent.

If you go, really consider walking if you are staying at such places as the 1863 Inn of Gettysburg or the Inn at Cemetery Hill.  The walk is pleasant and will allow you to see the living town of Gettysburg--after all, the town was a town at the time of the Civil War battle bearing its name. Metered parking is, however, available and can be free in some circumstances (like holidays)--check ahead.  We agree with the official website that the museum is pretty perfect for ages 2-8, but kids older and younger can enjoy it as well.  Remember that you can walk to Lincoln Square; there are several nearby moderate pub-style restaurants directly on the circle, and the economical and fun Lincoln Diner (truly situated in a diner) is about a 10 minute walk away, albeit through intersections.  Art activities do include paint and glitter; while there are smocks, dress accordingly. Our best advice, though, is to come on out to Explore and More and get messy!

Making Anew: Expanded Creative Spaces at Science Museum of Western Virginia

As all our friends know, we are proud Roanoke-based members of the Science Museum of Western Virginia.  They've recently rehabbed some spaces, making more room for creativity and interaction.  Specifically,  there's a kid-oriented maker lab, a wonderful new area for designing Big Blue Blocks creations and ball tracks, and a space for toying with robots and other coding "toys."  In two cases, these areas resemble similar spaces we've adored at Marbles and Amazement Square.  They are smaller, but they are here at home and we adore them, too!  In the case of the robotic coding toys, Science Museum of Western Virginia for the win--first exhibit of its type that we've seen!

Let's start with the showstopper in the eyes of educator K--Wonderlab, a space for exploring coding, robotics, and associated logic.  Right behind the entry desk in the former gift shop space, Wonderlab provides an exploratory area that is basically classroom size.  Multiple "toy tools" are available to explore and are appropriate beginning with the early elementary grades--and will also fascinate adults.  There are computers for doing a little Scratch coding, but it was more fun for us to manipulate Cubelets and Dot and Dash.  On the Sunday afternoon we visited, no one was around except E and his friend.  What a great time to explore!

Those cool ball tracks and that area for Big Blue Blocks creations?  It's all part of Design It! Build It! Test It!  We've played with Big Blue Blocks before at Marbles and at Greensboro Children's Museum but never in so perfect a space.  A wall-mounted grid really adds to what can be done with the blue blocks, foamy huge tinker toy-type pieces that inspire all sorts of construction.  There's also a nice magnetic wall with various tubes for ball tracks reminiscent of the same type of walls at Amazement Square, only these have more space for building.  Additionally, there's a paper plane test area.

And the Maker Lab?  It's fun, too!  Quite perfect for the early-to-mid elementary set and well-designed for visitors who adore their creations, it has a Lego wall, magnet manipulatives, straws and connectors (used to so like having these as a center as a kindergarten teacher), and similar building toys.  There are also a large number of craft supplies, giving it touches of ArtVenture from the nearby Taubman. You could always say you could "do this at home"--but you'd be buying a lot of stuff and making a mess.

If you go, we suggest bringing a friend--from 7-year-old E's perspective, this was so much fun with a similar-age guest!  Never miss the butterfly garden, even if only for a quick stop, when visiting the museum, and we spent a fair amount of time in Pixel Play as well, especially enjoying the multi-player Gauntlet game.  When visiting Center in the Square, never miss a quick visit to the roof, a great place to enjoy a brought-with-you snack in fair weather.

Friends who ask:  THIS kind of close-to-home adventure is a big part of the reason you become a museum member--new play spaces!!  Think about it:  Sunday afternoon fun, free parking downtown, minutes from the house.  Join your local museum--especially if they are part of ASTC Passport.   There are periodic membership sales, too--watch the museum blog at their website.