Wheatfield

Map of Adams County in southern Pennsylvania with Wheatfield Road highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by National Park Service
Length1.2 mi[1] (1.9 km)
Time period1858 mapped by Howe[2]
1863 Battle of Gettysburg
1895 Gettysburg National Military Park
1933 National Park Service
Major junctions
West end
 US 15 Bus. (Emmitsburg Road)
East end PA 134 (Taneytown Road)
Location
CountryUnited States
StatePennsylvania
CountiesAdams
Highway system

The Wheatfield Road is a Gettysburg Battlefield crossroad from the Peach Orchard east-southeastward along the north side of The Wheatfield (on the Peach Orchard-Devil's Den ridge),[3] north of the Valley of Death, and over the north foot of Little Round Top. In addition to modern tourist use, the road is notable for Battle of Gettysburg use and postbellum trolley use associated with the 1892-1896 US v. Gettysburg Electric Ry. case of the US Supreme Court.[4]

Route description

Wheatfield Road begins at an intersection with US 15 Bus. within Gettysburg National Military Park in Cumberland Township, where the road continues west as Millerstown Road. From here, it heads east-southeast as a two-lane undivided road, heading through fields in the park. The road continues into wooded areas with some fields, passing to the north of Little Round Top. Wheatfield Road comes to an end at an intersection with PA 134 in the community of Round Top, where the road continues east as Blacksmith Shop Road to Baltimore Pike.[1][5]

History

During the Battle of Gettysburg, the dirt Wheatfield Road was used by various Union and Confederate troops (e.g., Crawford's Third Division of Pennsylvania Reserves),[6] and Union troops deployed artillery westward to the Peach Orchard using the road.[3][7] In 1884, the Round Top Branch's wye with double spurs[8] and station was built at the east end of Wheatfield Road, and in 1894 the Gettysburg Electric Railway was laid along a west portion of the road (trolleys also crossed the east end near Round Top Station).[9] In 1895, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ceded jurisdiction of Wheatfield Road to the War Department,[10] and in 1900 two cast iron identification tablets were placed to label the road.[11]: '00  The Gettysburg Electric Railway tracks were removed from the Wheatfield Road in 1917 and the road was repaired in 1931.[12] The Wheatfield Road was resurfaced with asphalt west of Sykes Avenue in 1933,[13] and completed "from the Rosensteel pavilion to the Taneytown road" in 1940 by the McMillan Woods Civilian Conservation Corps camp.[14]

Junction list

The entire route is in Adams County.

Locationmi[1]kmDestinationsNotes
Peach Orchard angle[3]0.00.0
 US 15 Bus. (Emmitsburg Road)		Continues west to Willoughby Run via Millerstown Road
Gettysburg National Military ParkMcGilvery Artillery Avenue[15]Southbound avenue[16]
0.10.16Sickles AvenueNorthbound avenue
0.210.34Wheatfield Road's Sickles Avenue section "constructed" in 1899[11]: '99 
0.30.48Sickles AvenueSouthboun avenue "across Wheatfield")[11]: '96 
0.60.97Ayres AvenueSouthboune avenue)[17]
Plum Run bridge
39°47′49″N 77°14′20″W / 39.7969°N 77.2390°W / 39.7969; -77.2390 (Wheatfield Rd/Plum Run intersection) north of Valley of Death
0.71.11898 Crawford Avenue[11]: '98 Crossroad
1.01.61897 Sedgwick Avenue and Sykes Avenue[11]: '97 [12]Crossroad
Round Top1.21.9 PA 134 (Taneytown Road)Continues east to Baltimore Pike via Blacksmith Shop Road
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Google (June 7, 2011). "Overview Map of Wheatfield Road" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
  2. ↑ Adams County Wall Map (Map). SimmonsGames.com mapviewer. 1858. Gettysburg Area inset. Retrieved 2011-06-08.
  3. 1 2 3 Hunt, General Henry J. The Second Day at Gettysburg. Retrieved June 7, 2011. A cross-road connecting the Taneytown and Emmitsburg roads runs along the northern base of Devil's Den. From its Plum Run crossing to the Peach Orchard is 1100 yards. For the first 400 yards of this distance, there is a wood on the north and a wheat-field on the south of the road, beyond which the road continues for 700 yards to the Emmitsburg road along Devil's Den ridge, which slopes on the north to Plum Run, on the south to Plum Branch. [Rose Run] ... The angle at the Peach Orchard is thus formed by the intersection of two bold ridges, one from Devil's Den, the other along the Emmitsburg road
  4. ↑ Heebner, Chas, Esq; et al. (December 4, 1894). "Battlefield Commission vs The Trolley Company". Gettysburg Compiler. Retrieved April 20, 2011. in the vicinity of the 'Peach Orchard' ... the [trolley] Company will very gladly agree to the changes desired, approximately as indicated on the blue prints hereto attached{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ↑ Adams County, Pennsylvania Highway Map (PDF) (Map). Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. 2011. Retrieved February 22, 2011.
  6. ↑ "The Pennsylvania Reserves at Gettysburg: Gen. Crawford's Contribution". Star and Sentinel. September 21, 1886. Retrieved 2010-02-21. crossing the Taneytown road and skirting the Northern slope of [Little] Round Top, becomes a cross road from the Taneytown to the Emmitsburg road.
  7. ↑ "E. P. Alexander and Artillery Action in the Peach Orchard". Archived from the original on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2011-06-09.
  8. ↑ Topographic map of Gettysburg (Map). c. 1900. Retrieved 2011-05-28.
  9. ↑ Map of the Battle Field of Gettysburg (Map). Cartography by Gettysburg National Park Commission. Julius Bien & Co. Lith. 1904. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
  10. ↑ Unrau, Harlan D. (1991). Administrative History of Gettysburg National Military Park and Gettysburg National Cemetery, Pennsylvania (PDF). Denver: National Park Service. p. 85. OCLC 24228617. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-10-20. Retrieved 2011-06-09.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Gettysburg National Military Park Commission. "An Introduction to the Annual Reports of the Gettysburg National Military Park Commission to the Secretary of War". The Gettysburg Commission Reports. Gettysburg, PA: War Department. "Outside Wheatfield Rd (past Rose farm): On August 14 [1893] a Confederate avenue was surveyed, which was temporarily named the 'Outside Wheatfield avenue' beginning at the Emmitsburg road, 800 feet southwest of the crossroads at the Peach Orchard, running easterly to the lands of the Memorial Association, thence in a southeasterly direction by the lands of the Memorial Association, and terminating on a west line of the Crawford tract, near Devil's Den."
  12. 1 2 "Will Repair 22 Miles Of Battle Roads". Gettysburg Times. April 27, 1931. Retrieved June 7, 2011. Wheatfield road from the Emmitsburg road to Sykes avenue, 5,250 feet.
  13. ↑ "To Resurface Field Roads". The Star and Sentinel. April 29, 1933. p. 1. Retrieved January 26, 2012.
  14. ↑ "New Stone Walk Helps Climb On Big Round Top". The Star and Sentinel. July 13, 1940. Retrieved June 7, 2011. new walk nearly completed by C.C.C. enrollees on the steep slopes of Big Round Top ... C.C.C. enrollees also are at work on the Jones Battalion avenue east of the Harrisburg road about a mile north of Gettysburg
  15. ↑ Coddington, Edwin B (March 1997). The Gettysburg Campaign:A Study in Command. p. 415. ISBN 9780684845692. Retrieved June 6, 2011. The central figure … near the Peach Orchard was Colonel Freeman McGilvery ... All four batteries of his First Volunteer Brigade ... twenty-two guns in all ... in the general area of the Peach Orchard. McGilvery had placed three of his batteries in line with the Fairfield crossroad facing south, and the fourth on higher ground west of the orchard in an angle formed by the crossroad and the Emmitsburg road.29
  16. ↑ McGilvery Artillery Ave. – Cast Iron Avenue Tablet (Plaque). Gettysburg National Military Park. 2005.
  17. ↑ Ayres Avenue - Cast Iron Avenue Tablets (Plaque). Gettysburg National Military Park. 2005.
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