A woman (right) shares the Little Round Top views with the Gouverneur K. Warren statue as Covid-19 reduces visitation to Gettysburg National Military Park in late August 2020. The National Park Service will launch a major rehabilitation project at Little Round Top this year and will close the summit to pedestrians and vehicles for 12 to 18 months. (Brian F. Swartz Photo)

Later this year the National Park Service will close Little Round Top to public visitation as this highly visited area undergoes rehabilitation at Gettysburg National Military Park.
The Park Service plans major improvements to Little Round Top to address “visitor safety, resource protection, and accessibility for all visitors,” NPS Communications Specialist Jason Martz indicated in a February 1 press release.  
The project will target “overwhelmed parking areas, poor accessibility and related safety hazards, significant erosion, and degraded vegetation,” Martz noted. “The scope of the project will re-establish, preserve, and protect the features that make up this segment of the battlefield landscape. 
“This project will also enhance the visitor experience with improved interpretive signage, new accessible trail alignments, and gathering areas,” he indicated.
Later this spring, the NPS will close Little Round Top to pedestrians and vehicles for 12-18 months. There will be no public access during that time frame. 
Maine at War contacted Martz about the impending closure. “For the safety of all visitors and contractors, the entire [LRT] summit will be closed” during the full-blown rehabilitation, he responded via email. 
As for specific plans involving the project, “these details will be forthcoming when the yet-to-be awarded contract is finalized,” Martz noted. “We will announce all details once the contract has been awarded and finalized. Perhaps sometime in March.” 
Rehabilitation’s first phase starts Wednesday, February 9, when the NPS closes Little Round Top and Sykes Avenue so “a maximum of 63 trees” can be cut and removed, Martz indicated in his February 1 press release. The trees “will be removed along both sides of Sykes Avenue.”
Little Round Top and Sykes Avenue will be closed Wednesday-Friday, February 9-11, and again on Monday-Wednesday, February 14-16. Both places will be open Saturday and Sunday, February 12-13. 
During the temporary closures, traffic approaching Little Round Top on either South Confederate Avenue or Warren Avenue must use Wright Avenue (which will be one way) to exit the park at the Taneytown Road. Visitors can re-enter the park at the Wheatfield Road.
According to Martz, tree-cutting must occur before Indiana bats and northern long-eared bats roost in the LRT woods. “Both species of bat are on the federal endangered species list, and the select tree cutting project must be completed before their anticipated arrival in early spring, when nesting activities typically begin,” Martz noted. 
Updated information about the Little Round Top will be available here.

“Swartz delves into the personal stories of sacrifice and loss…” — Civil War News

If you enjoy reading the adventures of Mainers caught up in the Civil War, be sure to like Maine at War on Facebook and get a copy of the new Maine at War Volume 1: Bladensburg to Sharpsburg, available online at Amazon and all major book retailers, including Books-A-Million and Barnes & Noble. —————————————————————————————————————–

Available now: Passing Through the Fire: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and the Civil War, released by Savas Beatie.

This new book chronicles the swift transition of Joshua L. Chamberlain from college professor and family man to regimental and brigade commander and follows him into combat at Shepherdstown, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and the Petersburg and Appomattox campaigns.

Drawing on Chamberlain’s extensive memoirs and writings and multiple period sources, historian Brian F. Swartz follows Chamberlain across Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia while examining the determined warrior who let nothing prevent him from helping save the United States.

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Brian Swartz can be reached at visionsofmaine@tds.net. He enjoys hearing from Civil War buffs interested in Maine’s involvement in the war.