GETTYSBURG, Pa. (WHTM) -- On June 24, Little Round Top at the Gettysburg National Military Park reopened after being closed for renovation for over a year.
"We've had lots of visitors ever since," says Park Communication Specialist Jason Martz, "And we think from what everyone's been telling us, that the reviews have been very good, very positive."
Visitors to the renovated hill are taking advantage of rebuilt trails, new trails, and better access overall.
Some of the rebuilding was…unbuilding. Martz talked with us in front of an area at the summit of Little Round Top which saw a lot of work done to return it to something closer to its Civil War appearance.
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"This area behind me was a large viewing platform where groups could come in and congregate, and be able to look around and had a great vantage point. But there was, in fact, a very substantial stone wall that held up this viewing area. That viewing platform, when it was removed, really helped to return the natural look, the natural state of this part of the summit of Little Round Top back to the way it would have been in 1863."
When they removed the wall, they found a rock.
"There's this big boulder right here behind me that was hidden underneath this big viewing platform. You couldn't see it at all. So it had disappeared for the better part of probably 70 to 75 years," says Martz.
Martz showed us a watercolor postcard from the early 1900s showing the area, "Before this retaining wall work and viewing platform construction was ever put in. So we know that this boulder has a fantastic history to it. It's one of those, if you will, witness boulders."
The rock picked up a few scrapes from the excavating, and still has some asphalt sticking to it. It's not attracting much attention from people walking by it, but -
"It's very likely that union soldiers would have walked all over it, maybe even hid behind it."
The boulder is not the only stone the Park gave some special attention to. Not far away is another rock, which, in a way, was hiding in plain sight. Engraving on the rock honors Charles Hazlett, commander of Hazlett's battery, who was killed during the fighting on Little Round Top. Nobody knows who engraved the stone, or when.
"This was believed to be carved either shortly after the battle or certainly shortly after the war ended in 1865."
"In the past," says Martz, "Because this area had been so worn down over the decades because of all of the visitation, the area around this boulder was probably a foot to a foot and a half below where it is now."
With the area regraded, the stone is now at foot level. The engraving on it was very faint. Park officials took steps to make sure people wouldn't walk on and damage the rock.
"We painted in the letters, which is not something we normally do. This is a one-off, and this is because the painting ultimately is harmful to the boulder. But in the short term, we needed to bring attention to it so that folks would not walk on it because that's even more harmful to the boulder. We also placed this temporary wooden structure around it as a visual reminder."
Something more permanent is in the works. Jason Martz says it's part of an effort to make the park look more like it did during the 1800s.
"Not only did we not take away any of the history here during the rehab project, we've actually exposed more by removing this modern construction, this modern retaining wall and viewing platform. We've been able to go back even farther to 1863, and be able to imagine the Union soldiers in and around this boulder."