Cultural Landscape Study: The James J. Wills Farm
O'Bannon PW, Jacobs KF, Menke WF, Henry WR, Tidlow EM, John Milner Associates, Inc.. 1988. Cultural Landscape Study: The James J. Wills Farm. Cultural Landscape Report. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The Battle of Gettysburg was a turning point in the Civil War, the Union victory that ended General Robert E. Lee's second and most ambitious invasion of the North. Often referred to as the "High Water Mark of the Rebellion", Gettysburg was the Civil War's bloodiest battle and was also the inspiration for President Abraham Lincoln's immortal "Gettysburg Address". The Gettysburg National Military Park protects and interprets the landscape of the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg. The report authors examined Wills Farm as a distinct cultural entity, separate from its associations with the Battle of Gettysburg. The Project involved the systematic integration of documentary research in both primary and secondary sources with field observations of the property's built and natural environments. Changes in field configurations, crop patterns, fencing, roads, and other landscape elements created by human activity defined the physical evolution of the property And determined its integrity as a landscape. Natural features, including topography, watercourses, views, and the nature and extent of woodlots, were also investigated and examined. This work, in conjunction with careful and comprehensive research and investigation of the buildings comprising the farm complex, in both its present and historic states, enabled the Project team to analyze and evaluate the property's evolution and integrity as a cultural landscape. This report summarizes the results of this investigation, analysis, and evaluation.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- O'Bannon, Patrick; Jacobs, Kenneth; Menke, William; Henry, William; Tidlow, Evelyn; John Milner Associates, Inc.
- Date of Issue
- 1988
- Publisher
- U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
- Units
- GETT , NER
- Keywords
- Civil War, farm, Gettysburg, landscape, stream, Wills