Did You Know....

That the site of the James Gettys Homestead is Race Horse Alley Parking Plaza in Gettysburg on Carlisle Street?

Located at this site, a log-and-weatherboard dwelling was home to Gettys in 1786 when he founded the 210-lot town of Gettysburg on a portion of his family’s 381-acre farm. The house survived almost another century before succumbing to fire in 1880. At the time of the battle, it was the home of Adam Doersom, a local blacksmith. James Gettys’ activities extended beyond being the town father. Before his death in 1815, he served as tavern owner, sheriff, town clerk, road builder, state legislator and a brigadier general of local militia. He married Mary Todd, a distant relative of Mary Todd Lincoln, the Civil War’s First Lady.