GETTING THERE: The Gettysburg National Military Park, part of the National Park Service, is adjacent to town. It is about 52 miles northwest of Baltimore, 79 miles north of Washington, both of which have direct air service to the Tampa Bay area and rental-car agencies at the airports.

TOURING THERE: Park grounds and roads are open daily, 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. The Visitor Center is open daily, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (6 p.m. in the summer). Buildings are closed Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, & New Years Day. The National Cemetery is open at dawn and closes at sunset.

There are no admission fees to the Military Park or cemetery. There is a $3 charge to watch the half-hour presentation of what is called the Electric Map -- a dated but helpful narration of the events. On a huge map on the floor of a theater in the Visitor Center, differently colored electric lights trace the major movements of troops.

The area over which the three days of fighting took place is vast: The federal park alone encompasses almost 6,000 acres, crisscrossed by 26 miles of roads. By one count there are 1,880 major monuments and memorials and minor markers -- most of these last simply locate the positions at various times of individual military units.

Clearly, even holding the Park Service's free map, a first-time visitor can be overwhelmed. Plus, there is a real benefit to having knowledgeable help bring these myriad sites to life. Visitors have a range of choices:

Battlefield guides must pass an examination administered by the Park Service and then pay a $180 annual fee. I was lucky enough to tour with James W. Tate is a Gettysburg native -- he will show you his step-grandmother's house, which she lived in during the war. And he is in his 50th year as a guide. The affable Tate estimates he does 450 to 500 of the two-hour tours per year.

Because they are independent contractors and set their own work hours, the licensed guides cannot be reserved (though you might call Tate ahead of time: (717) 334-7368). Rather, they are hired on a first-come/first-served basis at the Park Headquarters.

The fee is $35 for one to five people, $45 for six to 15 people. For the smaller groups, the guide drives your vehicle, thus showing you the highlights in the order they occurred.

There are a couple of bus tours operating. The price for Battlefield Bus Tours is $18.95 per adult, $12.90 per child for the guide-narrated tour, $16.95 and $11.75 for a tour with a taped narration; call (717) 334-6296. Historic Battlefield Bus Tours charges $16.95 and $11, respectively, and has only the taped narration; call (717) 334-8000.

Several audio tours are available for purchase or for rent, letting visitors drive themselves about the sites at their own pace.

After Tate's fine narration, I went back around the area using the excellent Gettysburg Expedtion Guide, by TravelBrains. It comes with a well-illustrated guidebook and two hours of recorded narration. This is available at the Visitor Center for $19.95 for a cassette tape or CD. For those seeking more information, a version on a CD ROM is $24.95, or $39.95 for the tour and the CD.

Other tapes may be rented or puchased at various tourist shops in the town.

There are also bicycling tours, via Blazing Saddles (717 337-0700; closed for the winter season) and by horseback, the National Riding Stables; (717) 334-1288.

There are also free interpretive programs offered by Park Service rangers from April through October; call (717) 334-1124 for further information.

While most of the significant sites are easily reached by smooth roads, a number of the actual troop or battle positions could not easily be accessed by those with mobility problems, because the ground has often been left unpaved.

FOR INFORMATION: For visitor information, contact the Superintendent of the Military Park: call (717) 334-1124; fax (717) 334-1891; e-mail to GETT_Superintendent@nps.gov; or write to 97 Taneytown Road, Gettysburg, PA 17325-2804. The informative Web site is http://www.nps.gov/gett/.

The movie Gettysburg is usually available at the larger videotape-rental stores and occasionally is still shown on cable TV.

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