Document Type
Article
Abstract
As Gettysburg's sacred meaning extends beyond its 140th year, the site's nature has become a primary source of contest or debate. With the acceptance of new National Park Service policies at the end of the twentieth century, the ecology of the Gettysburg battlefield became both aid and bane to the effort to preserve history. By making this ethical choice, the ecology of the battlefield became part of another historic altercation on this hallowed ground. The debate asks Americans to make severe judgments on basic values that concern the act of preservation. In short, this debate confronts difficult questions including: Is a locale's nature as important as its cultural significance? At sites such as national parks, should natural ecology be openly manipulated in order to spur visitation? Is ecology a reason for preservation or a tool for accomplishing it? Thus far, the decisions at the Gettysburg Battlefield have attempted to construct a clear hierarchy that will likely be used to organize the priorities of this place as well as other parks. This essay explores the Gettysburg story in hopes of better understanding the impulse of preservation and the role that the natural environment plays in the formation and maintenance of icons of American cultural memory.
Repository Citation
Black, Brian. "Addressing the Nature of Gettysburg: 'Addition and Detraction' in Preserving an American Shrine." Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture vol. 7, no. 2, 2007, pp. 1–28. https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/reconstruction/vol7/iss2/1