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Gettysburg battle map will go.
Lights out for piece of electronic history
By Martha Raffaele
Associated Press
GETTYSBURG, Pa. - For decades, visitors willing to shell out a few extra dollars at Gettysburg National Military Park could be entertained - or bored - watching an electric light display showing troop movements in the Civil War battle.
With a new museum and visitor center offering a bigger "wow" factor for the park's nearly two million yearly visitors, the National Park Service has decided its 1960s-era electric battlefield map has outlived its usefulness.
As patrons of the new $103 million facility learn about the battle by immersing themselves in new technology, the old center stands vacant, awaiting demolition next year. Before that happens, the 30-by-30-foot map inside it - embedded with more than 625 colored lights - will be dismantled and stored.
At least a few people who believe the map still has educational value are urging the Park Service to find a way to keep the lights on.
One regular visitor has created a Web site devoted to preserving it, www.savetheelectricmap.com. Jon DeKeles, 51, of Post Falls, Idaho, said he had learned of the map's pending demise during a visit in late March, and he started the site when he returned home.
"Does everything have to be multimedia, high-tech in this world?" DeKeles asked. "I haven't met anybody who hasn't said the map was informative and gave a great overview."
From the earliest planning stages for the new museum, park officials envisioned using updated technology to give visitors a more vivid picture of how the battle unfolded, just as the electric map tried to do, park spokeswoman Katie Lawhon said.
The Park Service never formally surveyed patrons about the map, but received mixed reviews from those who did comment on it, Lawhon said.
"We do know that for the majority of our visitors, and especially our younger visitors, that it was not very engaging," she said. "We were concerned about a missed opportunity for students that came through Gettysburg on what can sometimes be their one and only visit."
On a Friday during the visitor center's last week of operation, about 80 people took in the map's noontime show - fewer than one-fifth of the auditorium's capacity.
Afterward, several fifth graders from Plainfield Elementary School in Carlisle gave the show a thumbs-up, including 11-year-old Lauren Baker.
"When you read a book, it's not as easy to understand as if you're looking at it and someone's saying it to you," she said.
Taejon Branch, 10, didn't share his classmates' enthusiasm.
"I thought it was boring," he said. "All it did was just show lights."
The Park Service has not ruled out resurrecting the map in the future.
It is also willing to turn it over to any government agency or nonprofit group that would use it for education, Lawhon said.
"We haven't had any really serious interest, but we have gotten a couple nibbles."
Lights out for piece of electronic history
By Martha Raffaele
Associated Press
GETTYSBURG, Pa. - For decades, visitors willing to shell out a few extra dollars at Gettysburg National Military Park could be entertained - or bored - watching an electric light display showing troop movements in the Civil War battle.
With a new museum and visitor center offering a bigger "wow" factor for the park's nearly two million yearly visitors, the National Park Service has decided its 1960s-era electric battlefield map has outlived its usefulness.
As patrons of the new $103 million facility learn about the battle by immersing themselves in new technology, the old center stands vacant, awaiting demolition next year. Before that happens, the 30-by-30-foot map inside it - embedded with more than 625 colored lights - will be dismantled and stored.
At least a few people who believe the map still has educational value are urging the Park Service to find a way to keep the lights on.
One regular visitor has created a Web site devoted to preserving it, www.savetheelectricmap.com. Jon DeKeles, 51, of Post Falls, Idaho, said he had learned of the map's pending demise during a visit in late March, and he started the site when he returned home.
"Does everything have to be multimedia, high-tech in this world?" DeKeles asked. "I haven't met anybody who hasn't said the map was informative and gave a great overview."
From the earliest planning stages for the new museum, park officials envisioned using updated technology to give visitors a more vivid picture of how the battle unfolded, just as the electric map tried to do, park spokeswoman Katie Lawhon said.
The Park Service never formally surveyed patrons about the map, but received mixed reviews from those who did comment on it, Lawhon said.
"We do know that for the majority of our visitors, and especially our younger visitors, that it was not very engaging," she said. "We were concerned about a missed opportunity for students that came through Gettysburg on what can sometimes be their one and only visit."
On a Friday during the visitor center's last week of operation, about 80 people took in the map's noontime show - fewer than one-fifth of the auditorium's capacity.
Afterward, several fifth graders from Plainfield Elementary School in Carlisle gave the show a thumbs-up, including 11-year-old Lauren Baker.
"When you read a book, it's not as easy to understand as if you're looking at it and someone's saying it to you," she said.
Taejon Branch, 10, didn't share his classmates' enthusiasm.
"I thought it was boring," he said. "All it did was just show lights."
The Park Service has not ruled out resurrecting the map in the future.
It is also willing to turn it over to any government agency or nonprofit group that would use it for education, Lawhon said.
"We haven't had any really serious interest, but we have gotten a couple nibbles."
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What about Antietam?
