McPherson Barn (rundown backside)

Edward McPherson’s farm was a half mile west of Gettysburg, atop the ridge that also bears his name. (Tour map: Stone and Meredith Avenues) The area was the scene of intense fighting on July 1st, 1863, as Confederate General Henry Heth’s Division advanced towards Gettysburg against defending Union cavalry under General John Buford. Union reinforcements from General John Reynolds’ First Corps arrived and counterattacked and fighting swirled through McPherson’s pasturelands and two fields planted in corn and wheat, as well as through neighbor John Herbst’s woods. McPherson’s barn became a place of refuge for the wounded and continued as a hospital long after the battle ended.

The house burned in 1895. The barn is the last survivor of Edward McPherson’s buildings, restored by the National Park Service in 1978. It is currently used by a local farmer who also leases the McPherson fields.

Source: The McPherson farm on the Gettysburg battlefield (stonesentinels.com)

On hard white oak floor plank, showing the rarely seen back side of the run down barn. Note the barely visible shaded beam inside the barn.