Gettysburg Film Festival: Behind the Scenes Where History Meets Hollywood

<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:01:42</time>
<p>Imagine you drive into Gettysburg on a crisp April morning and the town is vibrating with an energy that feels both historic and electric. You step out of your car near the town square and it's a hub of activity.

You glance towards a coffee shop and you see one of your favorite history creators, someone like JD from the History Underground or Chris from Vlogging Through History, just casually chatting with a group of fans.

Then you turn the corner and surprisingly, there's an actor from the original cast of the Broadway play Hamilton or the Revolutionary War drama Turned standing right there on the sidewalk. For four days this April, the high ground wasn't just a battlefield.

It was a meeting of the minds for history nerds, filmmakers and icons of the stage and screen. Welcome to this episode of Talk with History. Today, Jen and I are breaking down our long weekend at the Gettysburg Film Festival.

We're taking you behind the scenes of what it was like to sit in panels with legendary filmmaker Ken Burns and Hamilton's own Chris Jackson discussing how they brought George Washington to life for a modern audience. But this wasn't just about big names. It was a massive reunion for the history community.

Talk about our ad hoc meeting of over a dozen content creators at a local tavern, the atmosphere and the sneak peek we got at the brand new movie Gettysburg 1863.

Whether you're a die hard Civil War buff, a Broadway fan, or just someone who loves a good story, we're going to tell you why this festival is becoming the must attend event of the year. Why you should already be marking your calendars for the next one. Welcome to Talk with History.

I'm your host, Scott, here with my wife and historian Jen. Hello.

On this podcast we give you insights to our history Inspired World Travels YouTube channel Journey and examine history through deeper conversation with the curious, the explorers and the history lovers out there. All right, Jen, now before we talk about the Gettysburg Film Festival, I have a surprise.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:03:44</time>
<p>Oh, I like surprises.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:03:46</time>
<p>We got another five star review. So we are getting close to 50 five star reviews on Apple podcasts. So if you are a listener, help us get to 50. We're at 48 now. 48 Ratings.

Let's go for a couple more. Make them five stars and we'll read your review. We're trying to catch on the podcast.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:04:02</time>
<p>Yes, and we're trying to catch the History Channel. Right.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:04:06</time>
<p>Trying to catch them. So this one, I think we actually know who this is from. This is from Coolest Lori. So the title is great for travel. Five stars.

It's so fun to listen to an episode on the Way to a travel destination makes it so much more meaningful. Thanks so. Thank you so much, Lori. I think we met her at the Gettysburg Film Festival. It might have been someone that you talked to.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:04:28</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:04:29</time>
<p>So it's always fun to engage with folks, and we will talk all about the folks that we got to meet while we're there in Gettysburg this last weekend as we're recording this. So this was easter weekend of 2026. Now, we got up there on a Thursday afternoon. We got up there and you do what you do best.

And you kind of took charge of. Of the. Of the group. And you said, hey, we need to get together with. With some of our fellow history content creators, some of our friends.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:05:00</time>
<p>Yes. So again, we're chasing the History Channel, so please give us reviews. We want to bring history back to the History Channel.

Almost like bringing history content creators together. We would be great for the History Channel, all of us.

So I knew we were all going to be in one location at the same time, but we hadn't made any plans to get together.

And so I had texted a couple of the content creators I know, JD from History Underground and Chris Mowry from Vlogging Through History, and I said, hey, are we getting together? And they said, we hadn't planned on it. I said, well, we should.

And because it was Easter weekend, people's plans were kind of tight, and they were leaving early on Saturday to get back home for Easter. And so really, Thursday night was the only night that really worked for everybody.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:05:46</time>
<p>Yeah. And I think they had done a panel with Jared from Real History earlier that afternoon or maybe like, kind of evening time.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:05:53</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:05:53</time>
<p>So they had just wrapped up a panel. So, like, hey, we can't really meet until about 8:30. So we just put something together. At 8:30, we went to the. The Gettysburger.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:06:01</time>
<p>Gettysburger. And it was really, like, started with the three of us, and JD's like, can history with Waffles come? Can so. And so I was like, yes.

And then Jared from Rural History and Gary Alderman from American Battleful Trust. It's like we were just gathering people as we went. And so by the time we got there, I think we had like, 15.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:06:19</time>
<p>Yeah, we had a. We had a good amount of people. Probably had like 10 to 15 people,.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:06:22</time>
<p>But we had space for more. And if this becomes a tradition, we can do this every first night of the Gettysburg Film Festival, which I think we should, because I think once we.

I posted the picture. Once JD posted the picture, a lot of history content creators were like, I want to be There I want to be a part of this. So let's make it a tradition.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:06:41</time>
<p>We'll kind of talk more about that and kind of future plans and kind of what we're going to try to do. Hopefully we can get to get, keep going to Gettysburg Film Festival. So that was Thursday night. Friday morning we kind of were off to the races.

I got up early to try to get some early morning B roll. It was foggy and wet that morning, so it was not a great morning to try to catch any sort of sunrise stuff.

But I went to the peach orchard there, filmed some B roll at the peach orchard because we've got a video coming up about an event that happened there in a specific person. So we'll tell you a little bit more about that later. But the first panel that morning was the Turn panel.

These were actors from the show that came out 2012, 2014 time frame. But it's kind of recently had some life breathed back into it because it came onto Netflix. And so I think people have been watching it.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:07:35</time>
<p>So they had people who were from the show turned there. And one of my favorites was Benjamin Talmage. Now, Benjamin Talmage was friends with Nathan Nathaniel Hale.

And if you remember, Nathaniel Hale was captured and he, when he was, when he was executed, he said, but I have one, I have but one life to give for my country. And because him and Benjamin were friends, they went to school together. He felt very strongly about avenging his friend's life.

So he went to college with Nathaniel Hale and was so motivated that Benjamin Talmage got his friends that he grew up with together and they kept a tight knit group. No one was allowed in. And that's why this firing was so effective. And so you have Anna Strong, who they believe might have been Agent 355. And.

And then they had the main antagonist.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:08:27</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:08:28</time>
<p>From the show.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:08:29</time>
<p>Yeah. Samuel Rogan, who played Captain Simcoe.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:08:32</time>
<p>Simcoe, right.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:08:33</time>
<p>So, so this was so just, just so I kind of understand. So this was a spy ring. Now did Washington set this up or was this kind of brought to him?</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:08:42</time>
<p>It was brought to him, but he used it effectively. And they, they, they say stayed in Setocket, so Long island, where the British occupied from the very beginning.

And so they did things like invisible ink. And Anna Strong would hang the petticoats, letting them know movements and how many troops there were. But it was very effective.

So effective that we still don't know who all was part of it.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:09:07</time>
<p>Yeah. And, and the panelists brought that up. So there's this spy ring that was brought to George Washington.

And I think they even mentioned during the panel that, like, there was people who just, like, didn't want to know more details because they didn't want to accidentally give something away.

And so the history that the background of this ring was they were all childhood friends and not everybody, you know, they're adults at this point in the show when. When the spying was. Was happening and then the effectiveness and all that stuff.

But one of the big characters that was kind of a huge part of the show was Captain Simcoe.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:09:36</time>
<p>Yes.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:09:37</time>
<p>So he. The panel was actually probably one of the. One of my favorite panels of the whole weekend. It was very, very good. So three actors up there hosted.

The host asked some great questions.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:09:48</time>
<p>Great question.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:09:48</time>
<p>Chris talked to Samuel Roken about how he kind of came up with Captain Simcoe. And Samuel Roken also talked about how he was only supposed to be in the pilot. He was actually.

His character was supposed to be killed at the end of the pilot. But the writers and the director loved his character so much and what he did with it. They were like, we're going to change this.

You are now a central character, this story.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:10:13</time>
<p>Yes. So Chris White was the moderator, and he did a very good job.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:10:16</time>
<p>Did a great job. He asked some questions, like, if you were to follow one of these characters on one of these people on Twitter, which one would you follow?

You know, it was. And it was fun. They. They gave great responses.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:10:25</time>
<p>Very fun. And so that was really great. And it was. You had people there who were fans of that.

Plus, because the theme of this Gettysburg Film Festival was American Revolution, it really fit with the theme of it. And so this was the brochure that they handed out as well, which was super cool, as you can see.

I mean, it shows the American Revolution and just how bloody it was and how violent it was and how much these people wanted their freedom. Look at how they're fighting in, like, T shirts.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:10:53</time>
<p>Yeah. So for. For. For our listeners, right, It's. It's. It's showing soldiers on the battlefield with a tattered flag. It looks like.

I mean, I think they're implying that it's George Washington out front or somebody out front. There's a drummer there, and it's. It's these young men, these boys carrying rifles, Right.

Marching forward on a battlefield, and they're bandaged and all this stuff. And so that was. That was kind of.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:11:16</time>
<p>The.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:11:16</time>
<p>The whole brochure for the whole weekend was the Gettysburg Film Festival. And that's how they. They. They ran the theme of the weekend.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:11:24</time>
<p>So in coinciding with that, they ran the festival mostly from the Gettysburg High School and the auditorium there, which is.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:11:32</time>
<p>Pretty good size, nice auditorium. They. So someone told us there's about 3,3000 students there. So it's a good size high school.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:11:38</time>
<p>And then they had a reenactment camp. So outside of there, they had a Revolutionary War reenactment camp. They had men marching around with muskets.

They had some dragoons there in on their horses, and you could be a part of that and try stuff on. So that was super cool. They had that available for you too, right outside the front door.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:11:57</time>
<p>Yeah. So I think from there, I mean, they had food trucks. I mean, Gettysburg was hustle and bustle. And so I think we did a food truck.

And then we went over to the panel for Gettysburg 1863, the movie. Now, this was at, I guess, like beyond the battlefield Museum.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:12:14</time>
<p>Yes.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:12:14</time>
<p>Or center.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:12:15</time>
<p>Yes.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:12:16</time>
<p>Just. Just on the edge of town.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:12:17</time>
<p>Yeah. 625 Biglerville Road. It's the Battlefield Overlook Events Center.

So you can tell because the windows overlook the battlefield, and that is the museum that kind of this film festival is run from. And yeah, so we got a nice panel with the Gettysburg 1863 Director and lead actor, which is also the guy from Turn.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:12:42</time>
<p>Yeah. So Samuel Rokin, who is Captain Simcoe on Turn, he's also the lead actor in this new movie that's coming out here in November.

So as we record this, the movie's not coming out for a few months.

So the director is Beau Brinkman, and if you're familiar with Gettysburg movies, he was the Original director for the 90s Gettysburg movie with Chamberlain and all the stuff. Right. The Gettysburg movie that we all know and love.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:13:06</time>
<p>Jeff Daniels.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:13:07</time>
<p>Jeff Daniels, all the things. So he directed that. Obviously, he's done a bunch of stuff since then, but he's directing this new Gettysburg 1863 movie.

And it's a little different take.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:13:17</time>
<p>Yes. So it's supposed to be. Think of a year of Gettysburg. So I think the whole year of 1863. And if you know the battle is July 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:13:27</time>
<p>Smack in the middle.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:13:27</time>
<p>Right smack in the middle.

So it's supposed to show you Gettysburg before the battle, Gettysburg going through the battle, and then the aftermath of Gettysburg after the battle. But it's from the people who live their point of view. So it's from Gettysburg point of view. It's almost like Gettysburg is a character.

And so you see the battle happening outside the windows of the people in the houses watching it happen. And so it's a very neat lens to view the battle of Gettysburg through.

And so I think Sammy Roken plays a father of a family at Gettysburg who live at Gettysburg. Plus he's also fighting in the battle. So just a really neat point of view. They were filming there for a while.

It was kind of big news, them filming there kind of. Because some modern things got into some of the shots and people are like, are they going to have that air conditioner vent in the end?

Because they're going to green screen this. They're going to cut this out. Like movies today, they can special effect anything out of it.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:14:29</time>
<p>No. Now they did talk about, and this is kind of interesting, like the tons of dirt that they brought in to put down on the streets.

So this is stuff that they actually did and that was like a big cost to them.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:14:38</time>
<p>Yeah, 16,000 tons.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:14:41</time>
<p>It was a bunch. And so they talked about that. They talked a little bit about filming and kind of what it was like to do this so many years later.

And also how the director tried to. I wouldn't call it more inclusive but more realistic about the characters.

One of the things I remember him talking about was in the original Gettysburg 1863 movie was the soldiers on the battlefield were old. Were.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:15:07</time>
<p>You know, it wasn't the original 1863 movie.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:15:09</time>
<p>The original, original Gettysburg movie. But he said this time around he tried to be a little more. A little more authentic.

So he worked with a company that had reenactors that were all of the age.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:15:19</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:15:19</time>
<p>Young that would be actually in battle. Like it wouldn't be a bunch of 50 year old guys with white hair and bed and.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:15:26</time>
<p>But bellies.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:15:27</time>
<p>Right.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:15:27</time>
<p>And beards.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:15:28</time>
<p>So he was doing that. Right. He was making sure that, you know, there was kind of black.

Not representation, but black characters that actually engage because that's reality.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:15:37</time>
<p>And there were free people of color who lived in Gettysburg.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:15:40</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:15:40</time>
<p>Right. So this was scary for them. Right.

When you think about the Confederacy got that far north and their free people of color living there, that was scary for them. And so they had again, the lenses are through the people who actually live there. So he has like a young nine year old girl.

Girl who's coming to terms with everything happening to her family and to her black neighbors. And so she has asks a lot of questions. So it's very good about it. Like almost like a coming of age through war movie. And it's through Civil War.

What was interesting is they went down and signed books and. And yeah. Pictures for people. But then they allowed one on One interviews with history content creators.

And it was so happened that there was only four of us there that day.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:16:27</time>
<p>Yeah, it was, it was Jen and I and two other guys.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:16:31</time>
<p>Me and two other guys.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:16:32</time>
<p>Me and 2 other guys.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:16:33</time>
<p>And so we got basically one on one interview with them for about 30 minutes, asking them about making the movie Obstacles, Inspirations. And that'll be our next video and podcast.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:16:45</time>
<p>Yeah. So if you're not following, and that sounds interesting to you because we talk to the director, to the lead actor of this movie.

And I just kind of flipped my camera on. Jen took charge and introduced everybody and started asking questions.

And they, I mean, we were literally sitting at a table, at a small, typical round table, just one on one with them. And we weren't expecting this at all.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:17:05</time>
<p>No.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:17:06</time>
<p>So stay tuned for next week because that's going to be both the video and the audio podcast. So I'll bring that interview to you guys.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:17:12</time>
<p>It'll be a great movie. I'm really looking forward to it. So that was really exciting and something we weren't expecting and what great access we got.

So thank you, Gettysburg Film Festival, for giving us that access because we were very thankful.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:17:23</time>
<p>Yeah. And they were great about keeping everything on track. So that was right around lunchtime.

And then that evening we had what was kind of one of the more like heavy hitter panels. And that was the kind of the George Washington panel.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:17:39</time>
<p>Yes. So we went and grabbed coffee before we were heading over to the George Washington panel.

And as we're getting coffee, Scott pulls off the side of the road and someone honks at us. We thought maybe we had cut someone off or something. And because our car says walk with history on the back more, he's like, oh, gosh.

What happened was Chris Jackson. Yeah, the original George Washington.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:17:58</time>
<p>The original George Washington from Hamilton. He's. He's looking at me through his window, waving. He's like waving at us. So I jump out and kind of shake his hand.

He's like, hey, how you guys do it? I saw that, I saw that. You're writing on the back of the car. So he was excited to see us, just like we were excited to see him.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:18:10</time>
<p>So he's our hundredth podcast interview. If you've not listened to that, that's a great inter with Chris Jackson. And so that's how he knew us.

And we've, we've kept in contact with him since then, but this was our first time actually meeting him. So. Yes. So we go to George Washington, the indispensable man.

And this was a Panel with Ken Burns, who just came out with the American Revolution documentary, so he knows about putting George Washington on film. And then Chris Jackson, who has portrayed George Washington in the musical Hamilton.

And then Rich Rick Atkinson, who has written a couple great books about George Washington. So you had like a writer researcher, a actor researcher, and then a filmmaker researcher and how they bring this larger than life man to life.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:18:57</time>
<p>Yeah.

And one of the fun parts for this is we had heard about the Gettysburg Film Festival ahead of time from some of our history content creator friends, and Jen had reached out and engaged and got us connected with Gettysburg Film Festival. So if you're watching. Thank you. And asked, like, hey, we would love to come and cover this as press.

And so they took a look at our channel and at our stuff and they approved us to come work at this press. And so we came with media passes, which was kind of something that we haven't had the opportunity to do too much of.

And so all these pictures for those watching the video. All these pictures and all this video.

Now, I didn't take video inside because they asked me not to, but all these pictures that you're seeing, I took them.

So I was walking around most of the time taking pictures of Jen with, you know, whether it's Chris from Flogging with youh History or taking folks taking pictures of. Of people on stage. So Ken Burns, I was kind of off to the side up with the other media.

And so that was really fun for me and for both of us because one, we had good seats. We had me. We had media seats. So there's nobody sitting in front of us. And then I was able to walk around with my camera.

And these pictures that you're seeing that I'm showing on this video, these are pictures that I got to take. And this is something that I hope that I. That we can kind of continue to do next year.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:20:12</time>
<p>Yeah, it was really great. If you. If you're media and you're listening to this history content creator, you apply for that pass and you get. Seats are reserved for you.

It's really great. You have all this access, and that was really, really exciting. So thank you for that. We got to watch that panel. It was very interesting. It was good.

I think Chris felt like he couldn't. He felt like the other two needed to talk more about George Washington.

He portrayed him, and people love Hamilton, but he didn't feel like the people who really have dug into the research.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:20:45</time>
<p>And he joked about it. Right. He kept saying, like, hi, I'm Chris. I'm an actor. Right.

Because Ken Burns would say something like so incredibly insightful and just like a mic drop moment. Everything that he says is just so well researched. And he's, he's said it numerous times. You're just like, oh my gosh, how do I follow that up?

I know, but Chris was really good.

He, he talked about kind of how he got into that story space and that's what I would encourage you guys if you're interested in more about what he's, you know, how he got into kind of the, the headspace of George Washington. Listen to our, our podcast. We actually just re. Released that, that our interview with him.

And then Rick Atkinson obviously had, you know, a ton of stuff to say about George Washington as well. So that was a super fun panel that we got to do. And that was just the first night.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:21:26</time>
<p>And it was done late.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:21:27</time>
<p>And it was done late. So that was the first day. I mean, we like, we've been going for 24 hours. Four hours. And we were just exhausted.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:21:33</time>
<p>Yeah. And that's when I got to meet Chris for the like, meet one on one for the first time. Give him a hug. But it was like, like 9, 30, 10 o' clock.

And so gave him a history or die shirt. So if you want a shirt like Chris Jackson has, make sure you get on Walk with History gift shop and you can get a shirt just like Chris Jackson has.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:21:48</time>
<p>Yep. And so then the next morning. Right. So that was Friday. So Saturday is another, another busy day, full schedule.

And they did a great job of keeping keeping this schedule on task. So I got up early that morning on Saturday and it cleared up.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:22:06</time>
<p>Oh.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:22:07</time>
<p>And so I got up to Little Round Top. I was the only one there for probably at least an hour. And I got all the golden hour shots that a photographer, videographer ever could have wanted.

And in fact, I'm. I'm considering printing one out. I'm so over the moon, happy with it. I got this picture and I'll put it up on screen.

This picture for our listeners of the General Warren statue kind of picture that in your mind, if you've seen a picture of Little Round Top before, but it's the General Warren statue. He's overlooking kind of the valley, you know, right. Little Round Top down to the valley, to Devil's Den.

But it's like a side profile picture of General Warren and you see this fog just kind of in and out of the trees and the hills and you see all these different monuments. You see the Pennsylvania Monument and, and is detailed enough. I got Enough detail, you can see the smaller monuments. So if you zoom in and I'll.

I'll do this again on the video. You can see, like, probably a dozen different monuments off in the distance, but everything's, like, sharp. And it was just.

It kind of a highlight of kind of, you know, my photography career so far. And so that was Saturday morning, and then we jumped right into an actual Hamilton panel.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:23:12</time>
<p>Yes.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:23:13</time>
<p>Later that morning.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:23:14</time>
<p>That was beautiful pictures. And to have little round top to yourself.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:23:17</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:23:18</time>
<p>For an hour. I think people were expecting it not to be clear. And you really lucked down and got some beautiful shots. So make sure you check those out on.

We have them on Instagram if you want to check out Walk with History on Instagram. But yeah, so that was the morning that everyone was really coming for. And you could tell it was packed. Lots of people who were big fans of Hamilton.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:23:38</time>
<p>There's probably a thousand. At least a thousand people in that auditorium.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:23:41</time>
<p>Sold out. Yeah, right. It was. It was packed. But we had our media seats, so we were good. They had Christopher Jackson, of course.

They had Philippa sue, who plays Eliza Hamilton. And they had. They call him Oak. I cannot pronounce his name right, but he plays Hercules Mulligan and James Madison. He's one of those dual characters.

And they were playing clips of their songs, unbeknownst to you that Oak was going to come out and do the rap that he does as Hercules Mulligan. So he did it, and he did it live. And people went crazy.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:24:14</time>
<p>The whole auditorium just went bananas.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:24:17</time>
<p>And I think people. The atmosphere just was so electric at that moment. It just was fired up. Like you were at a Broadway show.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:24:25</time>
<p>Yeah, it was awesome. And I was talking with one of this. The staff, the Gettysburg Film Festival staff, and she was up there taking pictures as well. And I.

We were kind of comparing pictures out because he was only on stage for maybe 15 seconds.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:24:38</time>
<p>Yeah, it was fast.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:24:38</time>
<p>It was super fast. So I. I snapped, like, two pictures and they actually. One of them turned out really well, and the other one was okay, and.

And she was like, oh, you didn't know? And she's like, yeah, it was. It was a big secret.

Like, there was, like a small circle of people at the Gettysburg Film Festival that knew that he was going to do this. So nobody knew.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:24:57</time>
<p>It was super awesome.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:24:57</time>
<p>And it was. It was great.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:24:58</time>
<p>Yeah. So that was really neat. So they. So what was great about that panel, too, is a lot of people were there because they were fans of Hamilton.

So the person who was the moderator was a Fan. And you could tell they kind of were fangirling, asking questions fans would ask.

So I could feel like so many people wanted to know the answers to those questions. Not so much the history. Like, what did you know about Eliza Hamilton? More like, when did you mess up in a song?</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:25:24</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:25:24</time>
<p>Or what was like, the biggest mistake you made?</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:25:27</time>
<p>And they had some great. The. The actors up there. Right. So Philip Asu and Oak and Chris Jackson, they had some great stories. Like, they. They really played to the crowd.

And Philippa had a great story about one thing that almost went wrong in her show. Talking about something that was on the wrong side of the stage, and the stagehand had to help out and all this stuff.

And it was very, very well done. And I actually sat down and kind of enjoyed probably the last half of that.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:25:52</time>
<p>Yeah. And she talked about how they saw the progression of the popularity of the show. Of course, people who would come to visit. Right.

Famous people coming to visit and then wanting to see them afterwards.

But she said once the soundtrack came out and people learned all the songs, she could notice everyone's mouth moving along with the songs as they were singing. And that's when she realized she couldn't mess up because people knew the words. So I thought that was fantastic because I remember when I first.

I heard the soundtrack first, too, and I loved it because it was so smart. As a historian, it was so smart. And I can see how now you can't make one little mistake because everyone's going to know.

So I thought that was very interesting that you said that.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:26:34</time>
<p>Yeah. So we. We got to do that panel. We didn't try to stick around afterwards or anything like that.

I don't even know if they were doing signatures because I don't think they. They hung out. But then after that, we got to go hang out with Addressing Gettysburg.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:26:45</time>
<p>Yes.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:26:46</time>
<p>So Matt Callery, the host of Addressing Gettysburg, who, if you've followed us for a little while, you've probably heard him in our north and south series, where we review the miniseries north and south of Patrick Swayze. So that is Matt Callery from Addressing Gaysburg. It's a huge podcast. Very, very popular. He's had tons of big names. He's been on NBC.

You know, he's a featured podcast. And we. We kind of found that. We found birds of a feather.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:27:11</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:27:11</time>
<p>And. And we get along really, really well. So we were having lunch. He came out and met us, and then we went for a drive on the battlefield.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:27:18</time>
<p>So he does that a lot. If you ever watch Justin Gettysburg he does these live battlefield drives in the morning.

Like, he'll drive into work, and he'll drive the battlefield and go live, and you can just kind of see what the battlefield looks like that day, what's going on that day. And he just kind of talks. So we did that. We drove the battlefield that day. The weather was changing. It was kind of cold, and then it got warm.

It was a beautiful day that day. And we drove the battlefield, the four of us. And so that was a lot of fun. We had a lot of great interaction with people.

And we did it for about an hour.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:27:49</time>
<p>Yeah. Yeah. Because I was driving, so.

And I missed, like, two turns because Matt was talking, and he either forgot to tell me to turn or I missed it or whatever like that.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:27:56</time>
<p>And then we went and got coffee after addressing Gettysburg. Has this new coffee out called Little Ground Top.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:28:01</time>
<p>Yeah. So we went to. What was it here? Bantam Coffee Roaster. So if you go to Gettysburg, highly recommend going to Bantam Coffee Roasters.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:28:10</time>
<p>You would know that. Right across from Dobbin House.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:28:12</time>
<p>Yeah. And get yourself some Little Ground Top.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:28:14</time>
<p>Yeah, it's so. It was so good.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:28:15</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:28:16</time>
<p>So we did that drive with the dressing Gettysburg. Matt, big F friend of the channel. And then we went out and did some filming.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:28:23</time>
<p>Yeah, so we did some filming. And so that video is coming out soon. So we did some filming at the Peach Orchard.

And then later that night, we hung out with Matt again because we really like hanging out with him.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:28:33</time>
<p>So we had dinner in Fairfield, and Fairfield is where the Confederacy retreated to. So we got to see that whole area, the main road there where the Confederacy, even Lee came through that area. So that was super cool.

We had a great dinner out in.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:28:46</time>
<p>Town, a little Greek spot.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:28:47</time>
<p>But by that time, we were exhausted.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:28:50</time>
<p>Yeah, we were exhausted. Now, there was a couple spots that I'll recommend to you guys.

If you guys are listening to this on your way to Gettysburg, here's a couple spots where you can. You can go. So we mentioned the Peach Orchard. Right. Obviously, you can drive the entire battlefield. Got to go to Little Round Top. Right. If.

If it's your first time there, that's a must. Must do. Got to figure out how to get up there, fight for parking, you know, hike up a little bit. If you got to park lower Devil's Den. So we went. Jen.

We went to Devil's Den. I took some pictures of Jen down at Devil's Den.

She made some reels there so that you can see that from Little Round Top, the Gettysburg Museum of History. We didn't get a chance to, to go there. We think we walked by it one evening. We drove by it one evening. Yeah, but that's, that's a, that's, we've.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:29:31</time>
<p>Stopped in there before and that's JD's he's partners with that museum and that museum has a lot of Dick Winters memorabilia there.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:29:39</time>
<p>So just a ton of stuff, period.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:29:40</time>
<p>If you're a friend of Band of Brothers, they have, I think JFK's suit there. They just have a ton of different things. A lot of stuff from Gettysburg, but a lot of the Band of Brothers things are there if you're interested.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:29:51</time>
<p>Yeah. So if you want a couple recommendations from us on places to eat.

So the Gettysburg Circle, which is kind of like the main downtown traffic circle area. There's a ton of stuff right there. So if you go there, you can't go wrong finding a spot close to there. We mentioned the Bantam Coffee roasters.

Gettysburger is where we had that had kind of dessert and drinks with our fellow history content creators.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:30:14</time>
<p>If you're looking for a late night place, Gettysburger is great because we couldn't even meet until 8:30 and I don't think you think they closed till 10. So it was great for a late night place to hang out and they.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:30:22</time>
<p>Were really great with us kind of hanging out and stuff like that. So we ended up really liking the Appalachian Brewing Company. So great spot if you just want lunch, dinner, a quick drink or something like that.

Very open. I would call it family friendly.

And another place that was recommended to us that we almost stopped at by Matt, if you want to go in and kind of get a cold drink is four Score Beer Company.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:30:43</time>
<p>Yes. Those are all great places. And we actually ate at the Gettysburg Diner.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:30:47</time>
<p>It's the Lincoln Diner.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:30:48</time>
<p>The Lincoln Diner.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:30:49</time>
<p>We ate at the Lincoln Diner. And it's a classic little diner setup.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:30:51</time>
<p>That was great. And that was right across from where Lincoln got off the train when he came to give the Gettysburg Address.

And don't forget, Gettysburg Circle is where we were famously honked at by Chris Johnson.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:31:04</time>
<p>Yeah. So it was an absolute blast. Again, thank you to the Gettysburg Film Festival. Thank you to the sponsors of that event.

It was American Battlefield Trust, Gettysburg History. They put on a phenomenal event. And I will say one thing that I'm going to try to do next year is get more pictures of the volunteers.

The staff that was working it. The staff there was great. They were so cool with us.

Once they kind of got familiar and they were like, okay, these are the two media nerds you know, running around. We're just kind of hanging out, chit chat with them. And like the security guards, you know, they kind of got familiar with us. The staff was great.

That was, that was helping out. So thank you to the staff. They were awesome.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:31:37</time>
<p>Yeah. Thank you to the Gettysburg Film Festival. We had a wonderful time. We hope this is the beginning of a wonderful relationship.

We actually will put this on our calendar and do it every year. It really was a great experience for historians and for novices and for people who just love history and want to be immersed in American 250.

It really was a great place to be.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:31:58</time>
<p>Yeah.

As the curtains close on this year's festival and the crowds start to filter out of the theaters and back onto the hallowed grounds of the park, we're left with a feeling that is hard to shake.

Whether it was watching a panel of actors describe the grit of the Revolutionary War or standing on little Round Top at sunrise to capture that perfect fog laden shot, there is something about this town that gets under your skin. It was incredible to see icons like Kent Burns and Chris Jackson sharing a stage talk about the weight of American history.

But the real magic was seeing the community that has grown around it.

From content creators who met up for late night drink, to the fans who traveled from across the country, it reminded us that history isn't just a collection of dates. It's a living, breathing conversation. Even if you can't make it during a festival weekend, Gettysburg is a must visit for everyone.

There's a profound power in standing where the miracle happened, or in this case, where a nation was tested and redefined.

Whether you're grabbing a coffee at the Square, walking through Devil's Den for the first time, or just sitting in the silence of the Pennsylvania monument, you are stepping into a story that belongs to all of us. So you you can mark your calendars for next April, but don't wait until then to explore.

Get out there, stand on the ground where it happened and find your own connection to the past. We'll talk to you next time.</p>
<cite>Jenn</cite>
<time>00:33:26</time>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<cite>Scott</cite>
<time>00:33:27</time>
<p>This has been a Walk with History production. Talk with History is created and hosted by me, Scott Benny. Episode researched by Jennifer Benny.

Check out the show notes for links and references mentioned in this episode. Talk with History is supported by our [email protected] our eternal thanks go out to our Lifetime members to help keep us going.

Thank you to Doug Liberty, Larry Myers, Patrick Benny, Gale Cooper, Christy Coates, Calvin Gifford, Courtney Cenini, Gene Noah, Larry Mitchell, Tommy Anderson, Susan Sulas, Bruce Lynch, Dino Garner, Mark Barrett, Don Kennedy, John Simpson, Amy Lee, and Linda Roberts. Make sure you hit that follow button in that podcast player and we'll talk to you next time.</p>