From 1962 until April 2008, the Gettysburg National Military Park Visitor Center was located in Ziegler’s Grove between North Hancock Avenue and the Taneytown Road, across from the Gettysburg National Cemetery. An attached building housed the park’s cyclorama painting. The visitor center was part of the National Park Service’s Mission 66. (Mission 66 was an initiative to make parks more accessible by the National Park Service’s 50th anniversary in 1966.)
The building was dedicated on November 19, 1962, the 99th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address. It continued to function as Gettysburg Visitor Center until April 14, 2008, when the NPS moved into the new location which has entrances along the Taneytown Road and the Baltimore Pike. The Visitor Center was eventually demolished (the cyclorama building took a bit longer) and Ziegler’s Grove was restored to something similar to its 1863 appearance. Today all that remains of the old visitor center is the lot which serves as the main parking area for visitors wishing to visit the Gettysburg National Cemetery.
