"Gettysburg Electric Map Now Up For Sale" Topic

This is a folow up to a post I started a few months back. One of the local media rags has a story that the Gettysburg Electric Map is now up for auction. I was taken down and stored when the Park Service teamed up with private sources to buid a new visitor center on at a nearby location. The opening bid was around $5.00 USD as of early Tuesday morning.

link

This thing is huge and very heavy (12.25 tons!) Broken up into 4 sections, this would still be VERY hard to move. It would take a very large basement to store this. thing. I wonder what the scale is? :-)

Tell me again how eliminating this is better explaining the Battle of Gettysburg.

Very sad. Always thought this was the best way to get an understanding of the flow of the three days. NPS should have made room in the new building for it. Poor decision.

I think the big problem with it is the asbestos in it. That kills it for the government to display it and I hate to see the paperwork someone would have to fill out if the purchase the thing.

There is a misconception about asbestos. The only way for it to be harmful is for someone to ingest or breath in particles. Just varnish the thing again if it needs it and you are good to go. There are millions of houses with asbestos siding in this country still. They only pose a problem when remodeling and breaking them up.

Same thing with lead paint. Lead poisoning happens ONLY when a child eats a LOT of lead based paint.

Whoever said it once, said it best, "common sense isn't so common".

Quite right ancientsgamer. There are lots of things that will kill you faster than asbestos if you breathe it in…water, for example….

I understand people liking it for sentimental value. I first saw it in 1963 and was thrilled by the presentation. Of course at that time I was a kid and blinking lights seemed like a great ‘modern' way of describing the action. The last time I saw it in operation was in was 2000 and at that time it seemed very small, a bit confusing, old, scruffy, dated and NOT modern. Sadly, it was lame. Modern electronic displays today can make a MUCH more effective presentation.

It may seem nostalgic today but its time has passed. If the new Visitor Center were to create a new presentation similar to the old one, it would be a billion times better.

Like avidgamer, I saw it as a kid and was wowwed by it. I saw it again a few years back (maybe a year before the old visitors center was torn down?) and not impressed, especially when it was obvious that a good portion of the lights were not functioning properly. Some friends who were with me and had never seen it before did not have kind things to say about it.

I see the bid is up to $80 USD with 9 hours to go.