istory buffs and those interested in America’s Civil War must travel to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the site of
the most unforgettable and important military conflict of the war and President Abraham Lincoln’s most famous speech, “The Gettysburg Address.” Gettysburg National Military Park is mentioned in the book, 1,000 Places to See Before You Die in the USA and Canada.
The battle was not just the turning point of the war, but it was the largest and bloodiest military engagement in North America. It began on July 1, 1863, and lasted for two more days. The Union Army won, and turned the Confederates back south, so badly defeated that they never again ventured north.
With over 51,000 soldiers dead, wounded, captured or missing, the small town of Gettysburg was left with the staggering task of removing the corpses of men and horses from the battleground, cleaning up, rebuilding and simply surviving. Many structures, including private homes, were conscripted into serving as field hospitals. One of them was the main house of Baladerry Inn that’s located only one mile from the battlefield.
Owners Judy or Kenny Caudill will gladly give you a tour of the old house. Note that the living and dining rooms held the 1,300 men who were treated after the battle. As you enter those rooms, you realize you’re on hallowed ground.
Understanding that all the patients didn’t survive, you wonder: Is the Baladerry Inn haunted? Experts have said that it is. When the Travel Channel visited there, they discovered paranormal activity. Guests and other supernatural groups have also experienced ghostly encounters.
By Eleanor Hendricks McDaniel
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Inns E-Magazine / Spring 2014
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