We made our second trip to Gettysburg, PA in September. Last time we were there, we parked our rig at the Artilary Ridge Campground, out on Taneytown Road to the south of town, and enjoyed our stay there. This time we stayed at Gettysburg Campground on Fairfield Road to the west of town. This was a great place to stay, too. It was after Labor Day, so during the week, the campground was definately not crowded. On the weekends, though, it filled up.

We found the owners and others of the staff to be very friendly and helpful. We wanted to take a day-trip down to the Antietam battlefield in Sharpsburg, MD. Antietam was the site of “the bloodiest one-day battle in American history,” according to historians. Approximately 23,000 Confederate and Union soldiers were killed, wounded, or missing after the 12 hour battle in September of 1862. Anyway, we looked at a road map and decided on a route. Then we talked with one of the ladies in the campground office. She told us another route would be much better…and she was right!

The sites were mostly crushed stone. Some were grassier than others. Ours was quite level and partly shaded by some black walnut and hickory trees. More about that later! They offer a variety of sites, from simple tent sites to 50 amp, full hook-up sites for big rigs. Most of their sites appeared level and spacious as well.

They have a camp store with a pretty good selection of necessities in both the food and the camping and RV needs categories. They also offer a selection of clothing, as well as gift-type items and a snack bar. They have cable TV and free Wi-Fi, a pool, mini-golf, restrooms that, while we used our own bathroom, appeared to be clean, a small laundry facility, and other amenities. Gettysburg Campground is only a short ride from the center of town, the National Military Park’s Visitor Center, the battlefield, and many of Gettusburg’s Civil War historic sites.

Now back to the trees. One of the first nights we were there, Deb and I had just gone to bed and were
laying there unwinding – like you do when you finally realize you’re on vacation – when we both jumped at this major THONK on the roof! I had visions of a tree branch poking a hole and a serious repair job. I got up and took a look outside and saw nothing unusual. I even climbed the ladder at the rear of our travel trailer and checked out the roof. Nothing. The next morning it became clear what was up…or rather, what had come down! There were these big, green things here and there on the ground. I looked up and, sure enough, there were even more of them in the trees towering over the trailer. There were also other, smaller nuts laying around. Our friends in the campground office quickly identified these goodies as black walnuts (the big ones) and hickory nuts. The photo to the left shows the things compared to a quarter. They didn’t seem to do any damage when a few of them fell on the trailer over the week and a half we were there, but they sure are a wake-up call!

Overall, we enjoyed our stay at Gettysburg Campground and will very likely stay there next time we find ourselves visiting Gettysburg. If any of you have stayed at this campground, we’d be happy to hear your opinion and experiences.