I’m not sure what constitutes a pilgrimage. I guess my trip to Israel would count as such. But my roughly semi-annual trips to Gettysburg feel almost like a necessity. The place calls me back year after year. I go to the same places. I take the same pictures…! Regardless of the program being offered at the seminary, I make sure to take time to get to Little Round Top and the 20th Maine monument. If I’m lucky, there will be no one else around, which heightens the senses and aids the feeble attempt to grasp the chaos and violence unfolding on this very spot on July 2, 1863.
It’s just woods and rocks now- a mix of hardwoods, pines, redbud. Low stone walls built in the approximate locations of the originals. An exposed, treeless face. Honeysuckle tucked between the rocks. Birds singing, squirrels scampering. Peaceful, even.
But oh, if the stones could speak.
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