A Pre-Civil War Historic Learning Center with Virtual Capabilities

This award-winning museum brings interactive exhibits and exciting history directly into your classroom

In Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, a building stands that has endured the tests of time, remaining intact despite bearing scars of the American Civil War. Since 2013, the original Lutheran Theological Seminary building has housed Seminary Ridge Museum and Education Center and has been teaching visitors Civil War-era history for nearly a decade.

In 1832 on a peaceful ridge west of Gettysburg, a religious school opened to the community. For 31 years, it served students and educators dutifully until the bloodiest battle of the Civil War besieged the area, cementing its place in history.

Students can experience what it was like to train as Civil War soldiers and experience and how makeshift hospitals like the Seminary building kept them alive using known medical practices of the time.

What Students Will Experience

Learners can appreciate the immense depth of the Civil War and 19^th-century American history while standing inside an edifice that lived through the gamut of America’s narrative.

All student lessons and activities are created by teachers and historians following Common Core and National Council for the Social Studies standards. Students can engage in interactive exhibits highlighting the Battle of Gettysburg; Civil War Medicine/STEM; Dilemma Discussions; Race, Slavery, Freedom; and Civil War Memory. Learn about the destabilization and conflict between the Confederate and Union Armies that ultimately landed on the doorsteps of the Seminary building.

Virtual Learning Museum Resources

No matter how far away your school group is, educators can bring the museum into the classroom with Nearpod and Google Slides lessons, allowing teachers access to unique content for middle and high school students. Other virtual learning programs available via the website include Virtual Museum Tours, which offer digital walkthroughs of each of the three real-world exhibit floors. These respectively focus on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, Civil War medical care in the Seminary Hospital, and stories of faith and freedom in the 19th century and beyond. Here, teachers can also access an ever-growing collection of educational videos that take students on a journey of historical discovery.

Participation in Live Virtual Programs offers unique historian-led interactive lessons and tours right in your classroom. They can be customized to fit curriculum and student needs at an affordable rate. The cost is $100 per tour or interactive lesson for up to 50 students with group discounts available for two or more programs utilized.

Virtually explore mid-19^th-century American history from prewar Pennsylvania to veterans and communities picking up the pieces postwar. Students can experience what it was like to train as Civil War soldiers and experience and how makeshift hospitals like the Seminary building kept them alive using known medical practices of the time. Learn about the significance of the Mason-Dixon Line, the “border between slavery and freedom” that enigmatically separated the north from the south.

Whether inside the physical museum interacting with exhibits or staying within the walls of the classroom, Seminary Ridge Museum and Education Center is a great way to teach students about Civil War history. To learn more or reserve a spot for your school group’s tour, visit their website and get in touch below.