Everyday Life in Gettysburg? (Lancaster, Harrisburg: real estate, house, job market)

[canudigit]

We currently live in SE Michigan but are open to relocating when we retire in about ten years. Instead of following the crowd to a "warm" state just to avoid winter, I have really been thinking about quality of life and substance in a location, as opposed to just going somewhere to avoid snow. We don't mind having four seasons, and I don't want to end up somewhere that has warm winters but not much else, if you KWIM.

I am a huge Civil War buff and we have visited the Gettysburg area a few times with our kids. I find it extremely charming and the historical significance and plethora of Civil War-related things to do very appealing. However, I wonder if it would get tiresome living there on a daily basis, due to the constant influx of tourists. Also, I wonder if the job market is very good, in case we decided to relocate and still wanted to work. I am an RN with several years of experience in Med/Surg, hospice, and now dialysis. My DH is a truck driver. Those are two areas where one can usually secure a job just about anywhere, but I still wonder what it would be like to have to find a job in a town that is so touristy. The COL seems higher than where we are now as well, and I realize that we would have to settle for less house for the same amount of money as what we have here.

Any thoughts or opinions from locals would be much appreciated!

[teachbeach]

Tourism and traffic would be my concerns as well. It is absolutely brutal during the tourist season, and the days surrounding the 4th of July due to the annual reenactment events. There is also Spring commencement with the University that clogs the resources. You might want to drive south just a little and check out Hagerstown, MD or Frederick, MD for more options, but still the proximity to Gettysburg for the occasional or regular visit. Both seem to have more options in the way of hospitals, shopping, medical facilities and the ease of getting to an airport or major highway. If you want to stay in PA, try the surrounding communities of York, Carlisle, or the suburbs of Harrisburg. Both of you would easily be employable on a part time or very flexible schedule.

[canudigit]

Thanks so much for your reply. I have been looking at real estate in that general area online, just for fun at this point, and I can see that there are many other options that are just a stone's throw, so to speak, from Gettysburg but without some of the issues of living right in Gettysburg.

I work for a large, national company with multiple locations in every state, including locations in Chambersburg, Carlisle, Waynesboro, York, and Hagerstown. After discovering that, I am ready to move now, lol, but it isn't remotely possible until our daughter graduates from the University of Michigan in three years, since she lives at home and we enjoy in-state tuition rates.

Ironically, our local newspaper has several stories pertaining to Gettysburg in today's edition, due to the 150th anniversary of the battle being this week, and one of the articles was all about how congested the town becomes this time of the year and how people just need to have P...A...T...I...E...N...C...E with everything, from traffic to trying to navigate the town on foot. It gives one something to consider, that's for sure.

Anyway, thanks again for your reply and I will certainly consider your good advice and share it with my DH, who also loves the entire Gettysburg area and is on board with considering a move there in the future.

[North Beach Person]

Rather than Gettysburg look between there and Carlisle. You have small towns in between like Mt. Holly Springs, Boiling Springs plus quite a few others, in addition to Carlisle.

[faeryedark]

I live in Chambersburg and it's pretty nice, not far from Gettysburg, has it's own place in civil War history, since it was burned by the Confederates, and is right by I 81.

[MatildaLoo]

My apologizes for hijacking the thread, but I have a quick question about the pronunciation of Gettysburg. I've always pronounced it exactly how it is spelled. However, with the 150th anniversary coming up there have been a lot of news stories about it, and some of the reporters have pronounced it "Gettasburg." Which is correct?

[canudigit]

Thanks for the additional advice. We would be open to the entire area, as long as we can be in Gettysburg in half an hour or so. The last time we were there, we drove north on Carlisle St./Rte. 34 to get on the PA Turnpike and we were really impressed with how lovely and unspoiled the rural area outside of Gettysburg is. It really is like stepping back in time!

[MaggieC]

My father was from Lancaster County (LANK-astr, not LAN-caster) and he always referred to "Gettusburg" not "Getysburg". Wish I could hear him now.