fire and ice

This post is a photo study — it highlights a few selected winter Gettysburg battlefield photographs taken around sunset.

One reason I wanted to highlight some of these pictures is how unique the views they offer probably are to many of my visitors. Although people who live in Gettysburg all year round are blessed to see the battlefield in all conditions, for those of us who live a fair distance away, our visits are understandably fewer. On the days most of these images were taken, I was the only photographer (or one of just a few) actually out taking pictures in the cold. So I think they are fairly unique from that standpoint. Gettysburg just isn’t as popular in the winter as it is during the other seasons.

And even if you’re not a Gettysburg buff, I at least hope you can enjoy the beauty of the place, which of course stands in stark contrast to the horrible things that transpired here 145 years ago.

(By the way I suffered to get that last picture of Warren’s statue in the snow — my fingers don’t have good circulation, it was bitterly cold, we had to hike up the hill because the road was closed … and by the time I got back to the car my fingers hurt so bad I couldn’t move them! Hopefully the pictures are worth it and I hope you enjoy these rather unique and different views of the battlefield in the wintertime.)

Left view from Cemetery Ridge, right view from Little Round Top towards Devil’s Den.

Left: The Valley of Death from Little Round Top nearing sunset (battlefield aficionados will be able to find the Codori, Spangler, and Trostle barns). Right: Woods near the Wheatfield from the Valley of Death, Crawford Avenue.

Left: View west of Seminary Ridge from the Georgia Monument. Right: A fireball sunset from Cemetery Ridge near the Angle.

Left: Cannon of Woodruff’s Battery near the Bryan Farm on Cemetery Ridge. Right: the sun goes down over the Emmitsburg Road.

Left: Looking down Hays’ Division line near the Bryan Barn. Right: The sun sets behind the Codori Barn over the land crossed by Pickett’s men on July 3, 1863.

Two views of the sun framed by a tree. Left: the Codori farm, right: Little Round Top.

Left: The Angle, right view from Little Round Top towards the Devil’s Den

Left: fiery sunset over Seminary Ridge taken from the stonewall at the Angle. Right: G.K. Warren’s statue, a favorite sunset subject, in the snow on one of the shortest days of the year.

Tags: battlefields, Gettysburg, photography, sunsets, winter