On a warm, sunny Friday in September 2015 I had the opportunity to join my colleague Kelly Ingebritson to traverse the main attractions of the Gettysburg National Military Park with Google’s Street View Trekker—a 4-foot-tall, 40-pound camera system—strapped to my back. After answering some initial questions from curious visitors in the parking lot, we headed out on a hike through this historic battlefield that The Conservation Fund helped protect. As I walked, the Google Trekker’s 15 camera lenses at the top of the mast recorded data to produce a 360-degree panoramic view of my surroundings that you can now experience for yourself.

Here I am wearing the Google Trekker. The wearable backpack is outfitted with a 15-camera system on top, and its portability enabled us to gather images only accessible by foot. Photo by Kelly Ingebritson.

The Gettysburg National Military Park protects the battlefields that hosted the turning point of the Civil War, fought over the first three days of July 1863. The importance of this battle is commemorated through an extensive array of monuments found throughout the landscape. Living history is a key interpretive tool at the Park, and fellow visitors were delighted to see the Google Trekker pass by wool-clad reenactors and Civil War cannons. 

My colleague Kelly Ingebritson and I took turns wearing the 40 pound device during our hike. Photo by Kyle Shenk.

As I crested the top of Little Round Top, the view of Devil’s Den and the surrounding valley came into view, I was flooded with pleasant memories of visiting the Park as a child. Growing up in nearby Lancaster County, Gettysburg was a welcome field trip and weekend excursion. I vividly recall reenacting Law’s ascent of Little Round Top in the third grade with as much discipline as a brigade of schoolchildren just released from the classroom can muster. I moved a bit slower this time and chose my footsteps wisely, wary of hanging branches that could snag on the green globe extending a few feet above my head.

Enjoying the view at Gettysburg National Military Park. Photo by Kelly Ingebritson.

Click here to experience the trek of the core areas of the battlefields as well as the lesser-known Emmanuel Harman Farm, where much of the bloody Day 1 battle occurred. The Conservation Fund transferred this site to the National Park Service in 2011.

After a weekend of assuring my wife that the Google Trekker in the living room was indeed turned off and not recording our every move, I travelled to Shanksville, Pennsylvania to record my experience at the Flight 93 National Memorial. The Flight 93 National Memorial commemorates the events of September 11, 2001, another indelible time in our nation’s history. The experience here is different—although nearly 15 years in the past, the wounds are still raw and the memories of that morning still fresh. The National Park Service has done a tremendous job of honoring the passengers of Flight 93 with a respectful memorial that maintains the integrity of the site while providing a suitable environment for visitors to pay their respects to those who lost their lives that day. The Conservation Fund helped protect 600 acres of the Flight 93 National Memorial and the adjacent State Game Lands 93.

A somber scene at the Flight 93 National Memorial site. Photo by Kyle Shenk. 

Click here to experience the walk along the Flight Path Walkway, trekking along the same route traveled by Flight 93. The Walkway terminates at the impact site, access to which is reserved for families of the passengers and is not open to the general public.

Lands that are held in public trust serve many purposes—protecting the ecological integrity of our shared resources, providing valuable recreational and economic opportunities, and also preserving the spaces that stand as testaments to our nation’s trials and triumphs. Both the Gettysburg National Military Park and the Flight 93 National Memorial are public spaces that honor and protect landscapes that shaped our collective experience, and The Conservation Fund is humbled to work as part of partnerships that protect landscapes formative to the history of our nation.

A visit to these Parks stirs the soul and provides a deep connection with two dark, watershed events through which the nation has persevered. I hope that these Google Treks will bring you a little closer to the experience of visiting these hallowed grounds, and encourage you to experience them in person.

To explore more Google treks of places The Conservation Fund has helped preserve, click here.