{{Short description|Highway in Pennsylvania, United States}} {{Use American English|date=May 2025}} {{infobox road |state=PA |type=Byway |route=Wheatfield |map=Wheatfield Road Map.svg |map_notes=Map of Adams County in southern Pennsylvania with Wheatfield Road highlighted in red |maint = National Park Service |time_period = 1858 mapped by Howe<ref name=1858map>{{Cite map |year=1858 |title=Adams County Wall Map |inset=Gettysburg Area |url=http://www.simmonsgames.com/research/authors/PAGovtMisc/AdamsCounty/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721171838/http://www.simmonsgames.com/research/authors/PAGovtMisc/AdamsCounty/index.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=July 21, 2011 |publisher=SimmonsGames.com mapviewer |access-date=2011-06-08}}</ref><br />1863 Battle of Gettysburg<br />{{nowrap|1895 Gettysburg National Military Park}}<br />1933 National Park Service |length_mi = 1.2 |length_ref = <ref name=Googleplot>{{google maps |title= Overview Map of Wheatfield Road |url=https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=FUJTXwId40Fl-w%3BFS9RXwIdYUdl-w%3BFZJPXwIdPUxl-w%3BFVtKXwId-ldl-w%3BFetBXwIdKGll-w%3BFbJAXwIdA21l-w%3BFbs_XwId8m9l-w%3BFbJAXwIdA21l-w%3BFUI4XwId339l-w%3BFWQ2XwIdxotl-w&q=from:39.801666,-77.250077+to:39.801135,-77.248671+to:39.800722,-77.247427+to:39.799387,-77.244422+to:39.797227,-77.240024+to:39.796914,-77.239037+to:39.796667,-77.238286+to:39.796914,-77.239037+to:39.794754,-77.234209+to:39.794276,-77.231162&aq=&sll=39.801666,-77.250077&sspn=0.001228,0.003259&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=16&saddr=39.801666,-77.250077&daddr=39.801135,-77.248671+to:39.800722,-77.247427+to:39.799387,-77.244422+to:39.797227,-77.240024+to:39.796914,-77.239037+to:39.796667,-77.238286+to:39.796914,-77.239037+to:39.794754,-77.234209+to:39.794276,-77.231162 |accessdate= June 7, 2011}}</ref> |established = |direction_a = West |terminus_a = {{jct|state=PA|US-Bus|15|dab1=Gettysburg|name1=Emmitsburg Road}} |junction = |direction_b = East |terminus_b = {{jct|state=PA|PA|134|dab1=|name1=Taneytown Road}} |counties=Adams }} The '''Wheatfield Road''' is a Gettysburg Battlefield crossroad from the Peach Orchard east-southeastward along the north side of The Wheatfield (on the Peach Orchard-Devil's Den ridge),<ref name=Hunt/> north of the Valley of Death, and over the north foot of Little Round Top. In addition to modern tourist use, the road is notable for Battle of Gettysburg use and postbellum trolley use associated with the 1892-1896 ''US v. Gettysburg Electric Ry.'' case of the US Supreme Court.<ref>{{cite news |last=Heebner |first=Chas, Esq|date=December 4, 1894 |title=Battlefield Commission vs The Trolley Company |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=sv0yAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jAAGAAAAIBAJ&pg=3794,5663533&dq=hoffer+trolley+gettysburg&hl=en |newspaper=Gettysburg Compiler |access-date= April 20, 2011 |quote=in the vicinity of the 'Peach Orchard' ... the [trolley] Company will very gladly agree to the changes desired, approximately as indicated on the blue prints hereto attached|display-authors=etal}}</ref>

==Route description== Wheatfield Road begins at an intersection with US 15 Bus. within Gettysburg National Military Park in Cumberland Township, where the road continues west as Millerstown Road. From here, it heads east-southeast as a two-lane undivided road, heading through fields in the park. The road continues into wooded areas with some fields, passing to the north of Little Round Top. Wheatfield Road comes to an end at an intersection with PA 134 in the community of Round Top, where the road continues east as Blacksmith Shop Road to Baltimore Pike.<ref name=Googleplot/><ref name=PennDOTAdams>{{Cite FTP |title= Adams County, Pennsylvania Highway Map |url= ftp://ftp.dot.state.pa.us/public/pdf/BPR_pdf_files/Maps/GHS/Roadnames/adams_GHSN.PDF |format= PDF |year= 2011 |server= Pennsylvania Department of Transportation |url-status= dead |access-date= February 22, 2011 }}</ref>

==History== During the Battle of Gettysburg, the dirt Wheatfield Road was used by various Union and Confederate troops (e.g., Crawford's Third Division of Pennsylvania Reserves),<ref>{{cite news |publisher=Star and Sentinel |date=September 21, 1886 |title=The Pennsylvania Reserves at Gettysburg: Gen. Crawford's Contribution |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5FcmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=af8FAAAAIBAJ&pg=4346,3052655&dq=rocky-ridge+devil's-den&hl=en |access-date=2010-02-21 |quote=crossing the Taneytown road and skirting the Northern slope of [Little] Round Top, becomes a cross road from the Taneytown to the Emmitsburg road.}}</ref> and Union troops deployed artillery westward to the Peach Orchard using the road.<ref name=Hunt>{{Cite book |last=Hunt |first=General Henry J. |author-link=Henry J. Hunt |title=The Second Day at Gettysburg |url=http://www.civilwarreference.com/articles/detail.php?article=129 |access-date=June 7, 2011 |quote=A cross-road connecting the Taneytown and Emmitsburg roads runs along the northern base of Devil's Den. From its Plum Run crossing to the Peach Orchard is 1100&nbsp;yards. For the first 400&nbsp;yards of this distance, there is a wood on the north and a wheat-field on the south of the road, beyond which the road continues for 700&nbsp;yards to the Emmitsburg road along Devil's Den ridge, which slopes on the north to Plum Run, on the south to Plum Branch. [Rose Run] ... The angle at the Peach Orchard is thus formed by the intersection of two bold ridges, one from Devil's Den, the other along the Emmitsburg road}}<!-- (from the Spanglers Run, Stevens Creek, & Plum Run triple pt).--></ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gdg.org/Research/Authored%20Items/murrayalexander.htm |title=E. P. Alexander and Artillery Action in the Peach Orchard |access-date=2011-06-09 |archive-date=2011-09-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927010905/http://www.gdg.org/Research/Authored%20Items/murrayalexander.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1884, the Round Top Branch's wye with double spurs<ref name=topomap>{{Cite map |year=c. 1900 |title= Topographic map of Gettysburg |url= http://rutlandtrail.org/mapview.cgi?lat=39.8073127306&long=-77.2327229927&scale=13&theme=Historic&width=7&height=8&dot=Yes&submit=E |access-date=2011-05-28}}</ref> and station was built at the east end of Wheatfield Road, and in 1894 the Gettysburg Electric Railway was laid along a west portion of the road (trolleys also crossed the east end near Round Top Station).<ref name=Bien>{{Cite map |publisher=Julius Bien & Co. Lith. |year=1904 |url=http://www.simmonsgames.com/research/authors/PAGovtMisc/AtGettysburg/Map.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721171905/http://www.simmonsgames.com/research/authors/PAGovtMisc/AtGettysburg/Map.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=July 21, 2011 |title= Map of the Battle Field of Gettysburg |cartography= Gettysburg National Park Commission |access-date= June 7, 2011}}<!--depicts Outside Wheatfield Road--></ref> In 1895, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ceded jurisdiction of Wheatfield Road to the War Department,<ref name=Unrau>{{Cite book |first=Harlan D. |year=1991 |title=Administrative History of Gettysburg National Military Park and Gettysburg National Cemetery, Pennsylvania |url=http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/gett/adhi.pdf |last=Unrau |location=Denver |publisher=National Park Service |oclc=24228617 |page=85 |access-date=2011-06-09 |archive-date=2012-10-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020074708/http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/gett/adhi.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> and in 1900 two cast iron identification tablets were placed{{Where|Is one on Seminary Ridge|date=June 2011}} to label the road.<ref name=Commission>{{Cite Gettysburg Commission Reports}} "Outside Wheatfield Rd (past Rose farm): On August&nbsp;14 [1893] a Confederate avenue was surveyed, which was temporarily named the 'Outside Wheatfield avenue' beginning at the Emmitsburg road, 800&nbsp;feet southwest of the crossroads at the Peach Orchard, running easterly to the lands of the Memorial Association, thence in a southeasterly direction by the lands of the Memorial Association, and terminating on a west line of the Crawford tract, near Devil's Den."</ref>{{Rp|'00}} The Gettysburg Electric Railway tracks were removed from the Wheatfield Road in 1917 and the road was repaired in 1931.<ref name=GT1931>{{Cite news |date=April 27, 1931 |title=Will Repair 22&nbsp;Miles Of Battle Roads |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=NsolAAAAIBAJ&sjid=DPwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2792,2476646&dq=sykes-avenue&hl=en |newspaper= Gettysburg Times |access-date= June 7, 2011 |quote=Wheatfield road from the Emmitsburg road to Sykes avenue, 5,250 feet.}}</ref> The Wheatfield Road was resurfaced with asphalt west of Sykes Avenue in 1933,<ref>{{cite news |title= To Resurface Field Roads |url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=f4olAAAAIBAJ&sjid=s_IFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6137,1697771&dq=sykes-avenue&hl=en |newspaper= The Star and Sentinel |date= April 29, 1933 |page= 1|access-date= January 26, 2012}}</ref> and completed "from the Rosensteel pavilion to the Taneytown road" in 1940 by the McMillan Woods Civilian Conservation Corps camp.<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 13, 1940 |title=New Stone Walk Helps Climb On Big Round Top |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CIslAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wPIFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1096,5390501&dq=rosensteel-pavilion&hl=en |newspaper=The Star and Sentinel |access-date= June 7, 2011 |quote=new walk nearly completed by C.C.C. enrollees on the steep slopes of Big Round Top ... C.C.C. enrollees also are at work on the Jones Battalion avenue east of the Harrisburg road about a mile north of Gettysburg}}</ref>

==Junction list== {{jcttop|length_ref=<ref name=Googleplot/>|county=Adams|state=PA}} {{Jctint |location_special= Peach Orchard angle<ref name=Hunt/> |mile = 0.0 |road = {{jct|state=PA|US-Bus|15|dab1=Gettysburg|name1=Emmitsburg Road}} |notes = Continues west to Willoughby Run via Millerstown Road }} {{Jctint |location_special=Gettysburg National Military Park |lspan=8 |mile= |road= McGilvery Artillery Avenue<ref>{{Cite book |last=Coddington |first=Edwin B |title=The Gettysburg Campaign:A Study in Command |date=March 1997 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P-7RMD77eQcC&pg=PA415 |page=415 |isbn=9780684845692 |access-date= June 6, 2011 |quote=The central figure … near the Peach Orchard was Colonel Freeman McGilvery ... All four batteries of his First Volunteer Brigade ... twenty-two guns in all ... in the general area of the Peach Orchard. McGilvery had placed three of his batteries in line with the Fairfield crossroad facing south, and the fourth on higher ground west of the orchard in an angle formed by the crossroad and the Emmitsburg road.<sup>29</sup>}}</ref> |notes=Southbound avenue<ref>{{cite sign |url= http://www.hscl.cr.nps.gov/insidenps/report.asp?STATE=&PARK=GETT&STRUCTURE=&SORT=&RECORDNO=160 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120915203403/http://www.hscl.cr.nps.gov/insidenps/report.asp?STATE=&PARK=GETT&STRUCTURE=&SORT=&RECORDNO=160 |url-status= dead |archive-date= September 15, 2012 |title= McGilvery Artillery Ave. – Cast Iron Avenue Tablet |publisher= Gettysburg National Military Park |medium= Plaque |year= 2005}}</ref>}} {{PAint |mile = 0.1 |road = Sickles Avenue |notes = Northbound avenue }} {{PAint |mile=0.21 |place=Wheatfield Road's Sickles Avenue section "constructed" in 1899<ref name=Commission/>{{Rp|'99}}<!-- by [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=MTNUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WjoNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6585,137874&dq=farrell+battlefield+gettysburg&hl=en M. & T. E. Farrell] of [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5IktAAAAIBAJ&sjid=hpsFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2366,4028455&dq=farrell+battlefield+gettysburg&hl=en West Chester] ([https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-2QmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GAAGAAAAIBAJ&pg=3059,1892394&dq=farrell-stone+gettysburg&hl=en quarry east of town)] [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=F-MyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1QAGAAAAIBAJ&pg=2845,6993765&dq=wheatfield-road+gettysburg&hl=en]-->}} {{PAint |mile = 0.3 |road = Sickles Avenue |notes = Southboun avenue "across Wheatfield")<ref name=Commission/>{{Rp|'96}} }} {{PAint |mile = 0.6 |road = Ayres Avenue |notes = Southboune avenue)<ref>{{cite sign |url =http://www.hscl.cr.nps.gov/insidenps/report.asp?STATE=PA&PARK=GETT&STRUCTURE=&SORT=&RECORDNO=140 |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20120915203428/http://www.hscl.cr.nps.gov/insidenps/report.asp?STATE=PA&PARK=GETT&STRUCTURE=&SORT=&RECORDNO=140 |url-status =dead |archive-date =September 15, 2012 |title= Ayres Avenue - Cast Iron Avenue Tablets |publisher= Gettysburg National Military Park |medium= Plaque |year= 2005}}</ref> }} {{jctbridge |mile = |bridge= Plum Run bridge<br /> <small>{{Coord|39.7969|-77.2390|region:US-PA_type:waterbody|name=Wheatfield Rd/Plum Run intersection}}</small> north of Valley of Death }} {{PAint |mile = 0.7 |road = 1898 Crawford Avenue<ref name=Commission/>{{Rp|'98}} |notes = Crossroad }} {{PAint |mile = 1.0 |road = 1897 Sedgwick Avenue and Sykes Avenue<ref name=Commission/>{{Rp|'97}}<ref name=GT1931/> |notes = Crossroad }} {{PAint |location=Round Top |mile = 1.2 |road = {{jct|state=PA|PA|134|dab1=|name1=Taneytown Road}} |notes = Continues east to Baltimore Pike via Blacksmith Shop Road }} {{jctbtm}}

==See also== *{{Portal-inline|U.S. Roads}} *{{Portal-inline|Pennsylvania}} *{{Portal-inline|American Civil War}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Attached KML|display=title,inline}}

Category:Historic trails and roads in Pennsylvania Category:Gettysburg Battlefield