We’ve been to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania a couple of times. Most of you know that Gettysburg is the site of one of the most decisive battles of the Civil War, and certainly one of the bloodiest! General Robert E. Lee played a huge role at Gettysburg, along with his key subordinates General James Longstreet and General George Pickett of “Pickett’s Charge” fame. On the Union side, General George Meade was in command and played a key role.

It’s probably impossible, for most of us, to have any true understanding of what soldiers on either side went through during those horrific battles. Imagine, to march in ranks two, three, or more deep, across open meadows, into devastating fire from opposing cannon and rifles. You watch your fellows cut down and blown to bits on either side of you and yet you somehow find the courage to march forward. The movie Gettysburg, starring Martin Sheen, Jeff Daniels, Tom Berenger, and others, probably comes as close as anything to portraying the horror the men on both sides faced on the Civil War battlefields at Gettysburg, Antietam (Sharpsburg), Manassas (Bull Run), and other places.

Enough of that. Let’s get to our stay at Artillery Ridge Campground while we visited Gettysburg. It’s been more than two years, now, but I imagine the place hasn’t changed much since then. Since Deb really enjoys horses and riding, one of the key attractions of Artillary Ridge is their riding stable offering horseback tours of the Gettysburg battlefields. We took one of the two hour tours that includes “historic narration.” Well, the historic narration comes in the form of a CD that is played by one of the wranglers leading the tour group, and to which you listen by means of a wireless headset. For “cowboys” like me whose greatest challenge was to convince my big, four-footed ride that I was the boss (yeah, right!), paying attention to the CD didn’t work so well. Nevertheless, we really did have a good time on the horseback tour. It gives you a totally different perspective of the battlefield areas than the more traditional auto tour. About the good time? Well, after two hours in the saddle, my butt didn’t fully agree! Even so, when we revisited Gettysburg last year, although we stayed at a different campground, we still visited Artillery Ridge to take another horseback tour.

The sites themselves were generally nice. Ours was a pull-through site with a crushed rock base for the rig, although it wasn’t particularly level and required the use of some stacked Linx Levelers under the curbside wheels. It had a grassy area with a picnic table and a fire pit that Deb remembers as not being in great shape, but we had fires in it with no problems. At the time, there was free wi-fi, but no cable TV available. All the usual amenities were available: a pool, a no-license fishing pond, playground and horseshoe pits. The bathrooms were okay, but we used the facilities in our rig. They have a small laundry room, which we did use! There’s a pretty well equipped camp store with most of the things you need.

It’s what’s in back of the camp store/office that’s really neat to visit. Artillery Ridge’s Gettysburg Battlefield Diorama is an incredibly detailed scale model that depicts the then village of Gettysburg, the immediate surrounding area, and the battles that took place in Gettysburg over those horrible three days in 1863. The diorama is free to campground guests and to non-guests who purchase horseback tours. You enter the diorama from within the campground office and store. After you take your seats around the diorama, room lights dim and the narration begins. As you are taken by the narrator through the events, the jockeying for position by the Union and the Confederate troops,and the several battles, the appropriate areas of the diorama are illuminated by lights built into the display. Altogether, it’s well done and well worth the time if you want to gain an overall impression of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Funny story—Artillery Ridge is not too far outside of the town of Gettysburg, close to the Visitors Center and the battlefield. One evening, after dining at the historic Farnsworth House, we were heading back to the campground along Taneytown Road. It was after dark and we were chatting as we drove, talking about what we’d seen and done so far. We crested a hill and started down the other side when Deb, nearly speechless, grabbed the dashboard yelling “HORSE, HORSE!” Sure enough, there, right in front of our truck, was a horse just ambling along in the middle of our lane like he was out for a leisurely stroll! Well, I guess he was. I wonder if he appreciated the quality of the brakes on that truck, or how quickly my foot tromped on the brake pedal? Thankfully, we stopped just short of his hind quarters! After we managed to swallow our hearts again, we turned on the flashers and followed ol’ dobbin until, with a backwards look at us and a nod as if saying goodnight, he strolled off the road and into a farmyard. We didn’t get a photo, but I don’t think the mental picture of that suddenly-appearing horse’s rear-end
will leave us for a while!

Overall, we enjoyed our week-long stay at Artillery Ridge. The staff members were helpful and friendly and made us feel at home right from the start. Navigating through the campground, even towing our rig, was pretty easy the way things are laid out. It is close to town and to many of the battlefield attractions. I’d give Artillery Ridge Campground an 8 out of 10 rating and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.