Gettysburg’s Colt Park Neighborhood Teems with History
Visiting the neighborhood of Colt Park in Gettysburg Pennsylvania one would not know how much the neighborhood is steeped in history. The actual ground sits on the edge of the historic Bliss farm, and was where Generals Pettigrew and Trimble commanded troops during the battle of Gettysburg. The housing development sits on the edge of the Gettysburg National Military Park.
The neighborhood is named for Camp Colt, which was established in 1917 as a training camp for the new U.S. Army Tank Corps during World War I. The camp included barracks, workshops, and firing ranges. At that time approximately 15,000 men trained with two French tanks under the command of Captain Dwight D. Eisenhower. This was Eisenhower’s first independent command and he was tasked with “taking in volunteers, equip, organize, and them”. Talk about humble beginnings! Eisenhower’s dedicated service at Camp Colt earned him the Distinguished Service Medal. The camp encompassed the ground from where the development now sits to the base of Big Round Top. The camp is commemorated by an evergreen tree and marker placed in the approximate location of the camps headquarters.
During World War II the area was home to a camp with a very different purpose. For six months during 1944 the area was home to 300 German prisoners of war. The prisoners were used as laborers completing many different tasks such as cutting and milling lumber to picking and processing fruit from the surrounding orchards.
Any trace of either of these two camps no longer exists, and the ground is now home to the development as well as the surrounding fields return to agricultural use.
While strolling through the peaceful sidewalks of Gettysburgs Colt Park neighborhood it is hard to believe all that history occurred on the ground that makes up the neighborhood.
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