Gettysburg Battlefield's Newest Licensed Guide!

We are THRILLED to announce that the newest member of the Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide force is our dear friend Maureen Quinn!

Many of you have met Maureen here at the Inn as she has been a frequent guest over the past few years while pursuing this goal. She is an absolute wealth of knowledge on all things historical! In addition to this latest certification, Maureen is an active docent for the National Cathedral and a Licensed Tour Guide for Washington, DC. Maureen has introduced us to so many fascinating subjects, from monument sculpture here in Gettysburg to Revolutionary War forts in the Hudson River Valley. Be careful, if you get her anywhere NEAR an historic cemetery you will have to drag her out of it!

Maureen's first visit to Gettysburg was a decade ago. She was fascinated by the beauty and symbolism on the different monuments here. Having just relocated to the DC area she realized how close to home Gettysburg is for her, and thus began MANY trips to the area to really dig into all the historical info. She began her pursuit of the LBG certification in earnest about six years ago.

The process to become a Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide is quite rigorous. The license is given through the National Park Service. A written exam is offered once every two years. To prepare for the written exam candidates are given a multi-page reading list and encouraged to learn as much as they can about the Battle of Gettysburg and the entire Civil War...yikes! It is daunting to say the least.

A typical group size for the written exam is 125-150 people. It is not enough to merely PASS the exam, candidates must rank in the top 20 scores to be considered to move on to the oral exam. For the exam that was offered in December, 2010 the score needed to rank in the top 20 was 96%. Talk about no room for error!!! These people certainly know their stuff, down to the nitty gritty details and trivia.

Once a candidate is ranked, they await their turn to take the oral exam. For the job of Battlefield Guide it's obviously important that someone not only know the material, but be able to share it with visitors in a way that is engaging and interesting. So now candidates must go from the level of trivia to the level of broad overview, to give a first time visitor a 2 hour tour that covers the entire Gettysburg Battlefield. Guides need to know not only about the fighting that took place here, but also about the monuments that mark where that fighting happened (including when they were placed here and by whom, details on the symbolism and data portrayed on the monuments, and even the materials the monuments are made from)! They also know information on the Soldiers National Cemetery and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, as well as info on the town and citizens who witnessed this fighting in 1863.

This rigorous process ensures that only the best of the best become Battlefield Guides here, and we all benefit from it! You can be sure that any LBG you are lucky enough to tour with will give you accurate and entertaining information. All this for only $50 for a two hour tour, you just can't find a better bargain.

Think you've got what it takes to become a Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide? Go here for details on how to get started. We know a nice place you can stay when you start preparing :-)

CONGRATULATIONS MAUREEN, WE ARE PROUD OF YOU AND SO HAPPY TO HAVE BEEN PART OF YOUR JOURNEY!

~Todd, Christine & Molly