The Gettysburg Electric Map, once a familiar first stop for generations of visitors to the Gettysburg battlefield, will light up again Saturday in Hanover.

A public showing is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 29, at 22 Carlisle St. The approximately 75-minute program will include the original Electric Map narration along with a presentation on the history of the longtime Gettysburg attraction, according to the Electric Map’s Facebook page.

Tickets are $10 and may be purchased with cash, check, PayPal, or Venmo. Free parking is available behind and beside the building.

The map uses a series of lights on a large relief model of the Gettysburg battlefield to illustrate troop positions and movements during the three-day battle in July 1863.

The attraction traces its roots to Joseph Rosensteel, whose family operated the Gettysburg National Museum. Rosensteel developed the concept of using lights and narration to explain the battle, with the first version debuting in 1939. A much larger version was installed in a 500-seat auditorium in 1963 as Gettysburg marked the battle’s centennial. The map included hundreds of lights controlled by an extensive network of switches and wiring.

The National Park Service acquired the Rosensteel Museum property in 1971 and continued operating the Electric Map for decades. The exhibit closed in 2008 when the park’s new Museum and Visitor Center opened.

Hanover businessman Scott Roland later purchased the dismantled map at auction and undertook a major restoration. With no original wiring diagrams or control system available, the map had to be extensively rewired and its lighting system modernized before returning to public display in Hanover.

Source: Gettysburg Electric Map in Hanover, PA