Then and Now – Meade’s Gettysburg Headquarters

It never occurred to me during our vacation in Gettysburg how fun it might be to try duplicating some well-known Civil War-era photographs with my digital camera. And little did I know that today I would accidentally do just that!

It was our last day in Gettysburg and I was SO not ready to leave! On our way out of town, still drained from the excitement of the 145th anniversary Gettysburg battle reenactment the day before, I mentioned to my husband that I had forgotten to take pictures of Meade’s headquarters.

I think he suspected this was a ploy to savor a few more moments of this long-awaited trip, but, like the sweetheart that he is, he happily headed down Taneytown Road in the opposite direction we needed to travel in order to let me have just a few last minutes alone on the battlefield with my camera.

Upon arriving at the Leister House, I hurriedly shot a half-dozen or so photos and hopped back in the car, still terribly unhappy about going home but satisfied with my last-minute bounty.

Upon downloading these last few photos on to my laptop, I noticed one particular shot and its amazing likeness to photo of Meade’s headquarters that was taken shortly after the battle.

Meade’s Headquarters in 1863. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Meade’s Headquarters in 2008.

The unintentional similarity of these photos is a little spooky. I consider this as my special going-away gift!