With the first half of my Gettysburg trip completed, and a longer than anticipated stop in an antique store I was ready … for some food.  I made a quick stop for a very late lunch and then made it over to my next destination.

The Jennie Wade House.  For just a little history, Jennie at the age of 20 was the only direct civilian casualty of the battle.  This is the house where she was hit by a stray bullet on July 3rd, 1863.  They do offer tours but unfortunately when I visited they were closed for the season.

At the end of the tour you enter the gift shop.  This shop is available to anyone and do not need to take the tour to go inside.  At the back of the store is a one die electric penny machine.

The image on the penny is an exterior image of Jennie Wade’s House.  Directly across the street was my next stop.

The Old Gettysburg Village is a collection of small stores that surround a central area that has a gazebo and nice little gardens (when there isn’t snow all over the place) for a quite place to relax.

Most of these stores were closed during my visit, but the penny machine was available outside for use.

The four penny designs available at this machine were: A Civil War Soldier, a Cannon, United States & Confederate Flags, and a Military Drum.  With pennies in hand I packed them away with the others and headed about a block down the street to the Gettysburg Tour Center.

This place was also closed for the season as they offer bus tours around the battlefield.  I lucked out that there was someone inside and they allowed me in real quick to use their two machines.  Since the place was technically closed they didn’t have any of the overhead lights on and my pictures of the machines came out really dark so I’m not bothering to post them.  Guess I’ll just have to go back again sometime.

The first machine had one design which was of a Soldier firing a cannon with Gettysburg, PA across the bottom.

The second machine had three available designs that were images of General Lee, General Meade, and General Chamberlain.  Once I was done I quickly thanked the employee and let myself out.  The last stop on this particular street was again right across the street.

The impressive looking building was the Hall of Presidents museum.  Unfortunately like a lot of the places this time of season were not open.  I did send them a letter when I got home asking if someone could press the penny for me and it come back pretty quickly.

This penny has the beginning of President Lincolns famous “Fourscore and even years ago, our forefathers established, upon this continent, a new nation …”.  After finding out this museum was closed I started my way back.  Luckily as I mentioned in the previous post these machines were all located along two streets that met like a “Y”.  Back by the Old Gettysburg Village I was able to cut through over to the other street and only a couple blocks away was the Lincoln Train Museum where my car was parked.  But this was not the end of my trip, there were still a couple of machines left to find.

Just a few minute drive south I drove into the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum & Visitor Center.  This is a huge park with paths you can walk along and enjoy some fresh air.  Unfortunately when I was their it was cold so I just headed towards the museum but came across a familiar face.

President Lincoln is an overwhelming presence here in Gettysburg.  With my selfie-stick nowhere to be found I wasn’t able to take a proper picture with the former President.

Inside the museum there are all types of artifacts pertaining to the Gettysburg battle.  There is an admission to visit the entire museum, but there are some small areas you can look at for no fee.  Just outside the theatre is their gift shop which has quite a selection of items for purchase.  Just near the one exit tot he gift shop I found penny machine.

This seemed to be a fairly new machine, but all the images had 2015 listed on them.  It only takes dollar bills and spits out the design on a coin blank.  I will say they came out really shiny.

The images on the coins are President Lincoln, a Cannon, Part of the Museum Tower, and the Military Park’s logo.  After I was done the gift shop was calling my name again so I went back in to wonder around.  Towards the opposite end there was an exit towards where the restrooms.  I figured I may as well make a pit stop before hitting the road but just before I left I saw another penny machine.

When I had done my pre-trip planning only the one machine had been listed as active here which is why this one caught me off guard.  Thankfully I had my emergency backup kit in my car with some extra coins (I wrote out this kit here, always be prepared).  I ran out to my car, got the change and came back to press a set before leaving.

Two of the pennies rolled a little long, and the other two a little short, but the images still came out pretty nicely.  The designs included Our Country’s Common Ground, Abraham Lincoln, a Military Drum, and the United States and Confederate Flags 1863.  Back in my car I had only one more stop to make and thankfully it was in the direction back home.

The Drummer Boy Camping Resort was only a few miles away and was right off the highway.  I took the exit and made my way into the woods towards the General Store.

As soon as I walked in I was greeted by a very friendly women that asked if she could help me.  I told her I was there to use the penny machine and she walked me back to where it was.

The machine had three designs to press: the Drummer Boy, a Cannon and July 1-3, 1863 Gettysburg.  I thanked her for her help and hopped back in my car.  My very short stop over in Gettysburg had been quite a success at least when it came to the pennies.  In the near future I hope to come back here and be able to spend more time exploring all the history and stories this place has to offer.

A recent work trip had me passing through a town I had been interested in visiting for quite a while.  With my family recently going through the US Citizenship process we had lots of American History to read up on.  One of the most important battles in our country’s history was the Civil War and one of the battlefields was not only a turning point but the location of President Lincolns most important speeches.

Gettysburg Pennsylvania is a few hours away from where we live in Jersey.  As I planned out my trip for work I noticed that one of the routes had me passing right through the center of town.  I wasn’t going to have a lot of spare time on my trip but not knowing when I would be able to come back gave me enough incentive to stop for a bit and collect some pressed pennies.  Going through my usual preparations I checked online for a complete list of machine locations, marked them on a map and started organizing the appropriate change needed for each machine.

The day of my trip came and after my meetings I headed into the heart of Gettysburg which had me drive through the famous battlefields.

Most of the penny machine locations were located along two streets that connected like a “Y”.  This made it quite a bit easier to start at one end and make my way around.  My first stop was the Lincoln Train Museum.

I parked in their lot and headed to the front door but as my luck would have it I was there on the one day of the week they weren’t open.  The penny machine was located just inside the door teasing me.

I took the above picture of the machine from outside which is why it looks a little far away.  After I got home I put together a package with a letter and some coins mentioning I had stopped by when they were closed, and asking if someone would press a set for me.  A week or so later the coins arrive back along with some nice reading material about the museum.

The designs included President Lincoln, a Steam Engine and the 1899 Maryland & Pennsylvania Bobber Caboose that is available at the museum to explore (ahem when it’s open of course).

I left my card at the Train Museum and started walking since everything now was pretty close together.  Located on the next block was the Gettysburg Heritage Center.  I had read online this used to be a Wax Museum with animated scenes from the Civil War but those were all long gone.  There was a tour you could take but due to time constraints I just stuck to the gift shop.

The machine was located near the admission counter right next to the tour entrance.  I have come across these style of machines from time to time and always find them a little hard to use and the pennies usually press short.

However this machine actually surprised me and worked very nicely.  The staff member that was at the counter told me they had just serviced this machine which may have been why it worked so well.  These pennies have images of Two crossed Civil War swords with Gettysburg across the top, the Lord’s Prayer, My Lucky Penny with four-leaf clovers, and a special coin to cash in for a Free Hug and Kiss anytime … anywhere.  I really should have pressed more of that one!

A short ways away was my next stop the Gettysburg Diorama.  As the name says this place has a scale model of the Battle of Gettysburg.  It is over 800 square feet and includes a light and sound show.  You get a bird’s-eye view of the entire battlefield which is a really cool way to see it all at once.

Just inside the front door is the penny machine.  No admission is required to use the machine, but the cost to see the diorama is only about $7 and I would recommend taking a look at it really is pretty impressive.

This machine has only three designs which include Gettysburg 150th Anniversary, Civil War Soldiers, and Abraham Lincoln.  After I was done with the diorama I headed out to my next stop.

The Gettysburg Ghost Tours as you can see from the sign in the above picture is a Candlelight Walking Tour at night.

In case a Ghost Tour isn’t your thing, worry not the penny machine is located outside so you don’t even need to go in.

Four coin designs are available at this location which include: The Gettysburg Ghost Tour logo, a Cannon, the United States & Confederate flags, and Abraham Lincoln (this is a popular design here).  The next machine was literally right next door.

It’s a little store called Bases Loaded.  Just like the Ghost Tours their machine is located right outside and can be used even when the store isn’t open.

The machine is a Penny Pincher four design model.  It was a little squeaky as I turned the handle to press my designs but the end results came out pretty good.

My last stop before taking a break was a little more of a hike.  Only a few blocks but I ended up spending much more time inside than I had anticipated.

The Antique Center of Gettysburg was an amazing trip back in time.  But first a little business, as soon as I walked inside the penny machine was located to the left.

The machine only had one design available, but as you can see in the picture above they also had 2×2 elongated cardboard coin holders.  I thought this was actually pretty clever by the store especially since I had yet to see a pressed penny booklet anywhere.

The penny had an image of the National Tower Gettysburg with a cannon and the United States and Confederate Flags.  With the penny safely stored away I was initially going to head back outside, but the draw of the antique items in this store drew me further inside.  I was just mesmerized by the things they had in there that were all from the Battlefield.  From musket balls and other civil war weaponry, to union army metal plates and canteens.  I probably could have stayed in there for an hour at least, but kept my visit to about 20 minutes and I had only scratched the surface of what they had available for purchase.

Eventually I did head back outside and started to visit the last half of my stops before I needed to head home.