Restoring & Revealing the Missing Piece of Gettysburg’s History

Once condemned, Hopkins House is on its way to becoming Gettysburg’s newest world-class museum 

“It’s comprehensive,” adds Green. “It will be the only museum that will actually tell the whole story of Gettysburg’s Black history from the beginning. And I think that’s very important, because people still might not know that there was and is a Black presence here in Gettysburg.” 

"On a late November day, the sky above Gettysburg’s South Washington Street was overcast and colorless—matching the white housewrap encasing a two-story home. The water-resistant layer rippled in the wind as light rain fell. 

"The home wasn’t exactly under construction; it was being deconstructed. Mint green siding had been removed from the outside of the Civil War era-home, now guarded by orange traffic cones and twisting yellow caution tape. From the outside, it was a somber scene.

"Yet inside, it was anything but somber. History was being revealed.

"Encased within that old green siding and plastered walls was an original log cabin. Inside, with the plaster removed, red oak logs were seeing the light of day for the first time in decades. They seemed to glow with new life, as workers filled the gaps with new chinking. Excited chatter filled the air; the restoration team sharing their progress with Andrew Dalton, president and CEO of the nonprofit Gettysburg History, along with Jean Green, president of the nearby Lincoln Cemetery Project Association.

“ 'It’s the only surviving Civil War structure in the Black community here in Gettysburg,” says Dalton, noting the plethora of plaques gracing other Civil War-era buildings throughout town. “We are saving the very, very last piece of Black history—visible, concrete evidence of Gettysburg’s Black community.”

"Not only will the home earn a Civil War-era plaque of its own, but as the Hopkins House, it will welcome future generations of visitors to learn about another layer of history as Gettysburg’s only museum devoted entirely to the town’s Black history.

“'With this taking place,” Green says, “all the history in Gettysburg will be complete.” . . .

Jack Hopkins

Hopkins House History: The history of Hopkins House goes back to the 1840s, when U.S. presidents included Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James Polk and Zachary Taylor.

“The house was built, we believe, in the 1840s by a free Black family,” says Dalton. “And then it was sold to Abraham Brian, who famously owned a farm on the fields of Pickett’s Charge.”

"Brian owned it for five or six years, then sold it to the Hopkins family.

“Jack and Julia Hopkins lived here in the 1850s through the time of the Civil War,” says Dalton. “It’s the only home that’s still standing that was owned by and lived in by a Black family.”

"The lives of the Hopkins family, like many neighboring Black families of the Third Ward, became intertwined with the greater Gettysburg community. Jack Hopkins worked as a janitor at Gettysburg College, but he also was an integral link in the Underground Railroad." . . 

The Hopkins family’s three children were baptized around the corner and raised in the Catholic Church. Son Edward, after serving in the U.S. Colored Troops and surviving the Civil War, returned to Gettysburg. He not only ran a successful restaurant, but became the first Black elected official in the town’s history in 1880.  

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