Quality Inn at General Lee's Headquarters - 
- 401 Buford Avenue, Gettysburg, PA 17325, (717) 334-3141 www.thegettysburgaddress.com
For our first visit to Gettysburg, we stayed the one night at the Quality Inn at General Lee's Headquarters. We found the Quality Inn through their website. Make note of this - all the online travel websites said this hotel was booked. I called and they had several rooms available.
During the battle of Gettysburg, General Lee appropriated the house of Mary "Widow" Thompson to use as his headquarters. Now, it must be said that as you travel through Civil War sites, you'll discover that half the buildings on the east coast were somebody's headquarters or sleeping place at one time or another. In this case, however, the claim is authentic and completely legitimate. Virtually any picture book on Gettysburg features 1863 photos of the Thompson House and it is widely recognized as one of Lee's best-known headquarters locations.
Today, you will find a Quality Inn hotel built around the original house. Behind the Thompson house was a barn that was used as a field hospital in 1863. I'm actually a bit suspicious of this because you can't see the barn in the photos from that time period, but the sign on the building says it was there so I'll run with it. This barn has been converted into a couple suites for the hotel.
We stayed in the upstairs suite in this former barn. This is one of the nicer suites I've stayed in. We enjoyed the king-size bed and the boys made do with the fold-out sofa bed. LOL The suite is very spacious and nicely decorated, and includes a microwave and refrigerator.
The hotel offers wireless Internet access but I couldn't get it to work that night and the desk clerk was completely clueless about it. They had an 800 number to call for tech support, but by that time I was frustrated with fighting the system and gave up. If you stay there, you can hope that wireless Internet access works but don't rely on it.
Regular rooms for the Quality Inn were about $105 with AAA discount. The suite was somewhere around $149. We could have used a regular room with two queen beds, but went with the suite because it was in an original building (coolness factor) and it was a nicer room. I think the suite is worth the extra money if you can afford it.
You will find that $100 or more per night is the going rate for hotels around Gettysburg, and many (if not most) places require a two-night stay on weekends. This is particularly true of B&Bs, we found. The Quality Inn does not require a two-night stay, which is a big plus.
It also should be mentioned that the Quality Inn's rate is extremely competitive with other hotels in the area, even though its location is just about as good as you can get. You are literally right across the street from the battlefield (McPherson Ridge area) and kitty-corner from the Lutheran Theological Seminary area.
The Quality Inn has several reports of ghost sightings; that's another reason we went with the suite in the original building. The boys figured they would appease any ghosts that happened by . . . they had two hats, one confederate and one union, and they hanged their hats on our bed posts. This must have worked - we had no ghostly experiences. (Not here anyway.)
A big thumbs up for the Quality Inn at General Lee's Headquarters. Competitive price, nice facilities, terrific location all make this a great choice.
Photos of Quality Inn at General Lee's Headquarters:
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all photos of the Quality Inn at General Lee's Headquarters here 
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Civil War Trip Reports
Civil War trip report (general notes) - Many of our observations applied to more than one battlefield or to the trip in general. This was particularly true with regards to planning and booking the trip and the items we brought with us on our vacation. Rather than duplicate those comments in the Antietam, Harpers Ferry and Gettysburg trip reports, I've included a separate page for these general comments here.
Antietam National Military Park trip report - We spent one and a half days touring Antietam National Military Park. Read this trip report to learn about our cabin, a great restaurant . . . to avoid, suggestions for improving your visit, and much more.
Harpers Ferry National Historical Park trip report - We visited Harpers Ferry National Historical Park for a half day. While we weren't there for too long, we still had a good time and identified several tips and observations that might help you as you plan for your vacation.
Vicksburg National Military Park trip report - We spent a fast two days in Vicksburg to travel the battlefield in March, 2010. We spent a great deal of time traveling around the battlefield, and stayed overnight in Vicksburg. Good tip for a hotel, not so good experiences with restaurants unfortunately. But you can learn from our mistakes.
Living Civil War History - Civil War Reenactment in Jefferson, Texas - In May, 2010 we traveled to Living Civil War History a civil war reenactment in Jefferson, Texas. This trip report describes the event and provides reviews of two restaurants you don't want to miss.
Texas Civil War Museum - Fort Worth Texas - We have driven past this facility literally hundreds of times - it is within 10 miles of our house. Every time we see it, one of us will say to the other, "We need to check that place out - is it open?" Well, we finally broke down and went for a visit on February 27, 2010. Yes, it is open. We were pleasantly surprised at how nice it was inside too! Check out the trip report from the Texas Civil War Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.
Gettysburg Battlefield Travel Photographs
We have linked to several photos from Gettysburg
National Military Battlefield on this trip report page . . . but not ALL of the
pictures we shot. After you've read the trip report, be sure to check out the
Gettysburg National Military Battlefield Photos to see all the great tourist sites
and get excited about your trip! View
Gettysburg National Military Battlefield travel pictures .