Review of the Gettysburg Beyond the Battle Museum in Adams County

If you love history, Gettysburg Beyond the Battle Museum is a must visit spot in Adams County. PA.

Gettysburg Beyond the Battle is located just north of downtown Gettysburg and opened to the public in April 2023. It is run by the Adams County Historical Society, the same group that owns the popular Shriver House in town.

The museum is best known for its Caught in the Crossfire exhibit (more on that later), but it also houses a fabulous collection of artifacts related to Adam County’s history dating back to Native Americans and continuing through the 20th century. This gives you a great chance to learn about Gettysburg beyond the battle (as the name of the museum implies).

The museum starts with a video about Adams County narrated by actor Stephen Lang, who was in the movie “Gettysburg”.

While the museum mostly focuses on the human history of the region, there is some information about the area’s geologic history including some interesting topics like the geology of Devil’s Den, the dinosaur footprints that you used to be able to see on the battlefield, and the Mount Joy Meteorite. 

It then offers information on pre-Colonial times including information on the Native Americans who lived in the area before the arrival of Europeans. I especially enjoyed the artifacts that they had on display.

I also found the story of Mary Jemison very interesting. She was a young settler in the area who was abducted by Native Americans, but chose to stay with them for the rest of her life, becoming known as the “White Woman of the Genesee” and being buried on the grounds of present-day Letchworth State Park in New York.

The next portion of the museum focuses on life in Gettysburg leading up to and during the battle. The focus here is how the war impacted local residents, instead of on the battle itself.

While this isn’t a unique angle in town (You can also learn about it at the Children of Gettysburg 1863 Museum and the Gettysburg Heritage Center to name two), this is probably the best such display I’ve seen, and offers a good look at what life was like in town before, during and after the battle in July 1863.

The highlight of the museum, however, is their Caught in the Crossfire Exhibit, which is located in the middle of the museum and lasts approximately five minutes.

In this exhibit, you’ll enter a recreated basement space that uses lights, sounds, and even movement to give you a glimpse of what it was like being trapped in a basement of a home while fighting raged all around town on the first day of the battle.

I found this to be very well done, and it really gave me a feeling of anxiety during the demonstration. Because of this, it’s worth noting that it might be too intense for young visitors. Fortunately, it’s easy to skip, but it’s also easy to leave during the program should you need to.

Past this exhibit, there are two areas that focus on the aftermath of the battle.

The first tells what it was like to clean up from such a tragic event, including the burial of bodies, objects found on the battlefield, and the early days of tourism in Gettysburg.

Beyond that, there’s an exhibit on President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, including reactions to it from local citizens and items from the David Wills’ House where Lincoln stayed during this time in tow.

The last area of the museum focuses on the last 160 years of Gettysburg history, moving quickly through diverse topics like sports, President Dwight Eisenhower’s house, the Civil Rights Movement, the life of Baseball Hall of Famer Eddie Plank, and more.

While I would have liked to have seen more information on some of these topics, they are covered well despite not taking up much space within the museum.

Overall, Gettysburg Beyond the Battle is a fabulous museum, and one of the, if not the, best historical society museum I’ve visited in Pennsylvania.

While many come largely for the Caught in the Crossfire exhibit, make sure to take the time to really explore this museum to learn about the fascinating history of Adams County.

Looking for more things to do nearby? Check out the John Brown House, the Cumberland County Historical Society Museum, and the covered bridges of Adams County.