The Culp Farm is located west of Rock Creek, on the east side of Gettysburg, at 301 East Middle Street. It was owned by Henry Culp, who was one of the wealthiest people in Gettysburg in 1860. The farmland was acquired in 1841 by Culp, and during the following decade, he built a 2-story house, the barn and several outbuildings. Culp and his wife were members of the St. James Lutheran Church. Henry Culp died in 1886, and Anna followed in 1896. Both are buried in Evergreen Cemetery.
During the battle of Gettysburg the farm buildings were highly visible from all vantage points east of the town, and the farm witnessed heavy fighting. On July 1-3, 1863, Confederate forces used the farm as a staging area for attacks on Union positions southwest of the farm. Early’s Division likely had one of its hospitals here. It was here that Colonel Isaac Avery, commanding Hoke’s Brigade, was brought with his mortal wound. (He lived only a short time.)
The Henry Culp Farm is Confederate Hospital #1 on the Adams County Historical Society’s Hospital Tour.
