Shriver House to hold re-enactment in streets of Gettysburg
(Gettysburg, Pennsylvania) - 6/22/2010
CONTACT:
Nancie Gudmestad
Shriver House Museum
(717) 337-2800
[email protected]
In July 1863, Confederate sharpshooters occupied the home of George and Hettie Shriver on Baltimore Street in Gettysburg to fire at their Union adversaries on Cemetery Hill.
On Saturday, July 3rd, Confederates will once again occupy the Shrivers’ home just as they did 147 years ago during the Battle of Gettysburg. This time, however, visitors are invited to join the Rebels to learn “first-hand” what occurred there during those three days of terror in the summer of 1863.
The Shriver House Museum’s 11th annual “Confederates Take the Shriver House” living history presentation provides visitors an opportunity to learn why Hettie Shriver took her two girls, Sadie (7) and Mollie (5), and her 15-year-old neighbor, Tillie Pierce, to seek safety outside town only to find themselves deep within the battle lines - at the base of Little Round Top.
Speak with Confederate soldiers as they prepare for battle while witnessing the deadly activity in the Shriver’s attic as sharpshooters fire their muskets and, in some cases, take their last breath before meeting their maker.
When the battle ended the Shrivers’ home was turned into a hospital for some of the thousands of wounded soldiers left behind after the conflict. Come watch as surgeons struggle to save lives in a make-shift hospital in the summer kitchen. At the end of the tour cool off with a root beer in Shriver’s Saloon while younger visitors have a nurse bandage their wounds or make whirligigs or church dolls to take along as a memento of your visit.
The Battle of Gettysburg encompassed not only the surrounding countryside but the streets of this historic town as well. Come witness the only reenactment to take place in the streets of Gettysburg - in the very attic where it actually happened in July 1863.
The Shrivers’ home was painstakingly restored in 1996 and is now open to the public as a heritage museum. Tours offer special insight into the lives of the people of Gettysburg and how the Civil War, and in particular the Battle of Gettysburg, affected them. The story is told through the eyes of the George and Hettie Shriver whose home was built with a saloon in the cellar and a ten-pin bowling alley in the backyard just a few months before the start of the Civil War. The tour also gives a glimpse into the lifestyles, customs, and furnishings of the 1860s.
For additional information on the Shriver House Museum, please call 717-337-2800 or visit www.shriverhouse.org.
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