Steinwehr Avenue Museum Occupying a Former Wax Museum's Burial-Ground Site
297 Steinwehr Avenue, Gettysburg, PA 17325
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Museum admission applies. Check gettysburgmuseum.com for current pricing and hours.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved, urban, indoor museum
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1962 · Battle of Gettysburg · Civil War Centennial · Pennsylvania Military History
The building at 297 Steinwehr Avenue opened as the National Civil War Wax Museum in April 1962, timed to the Civil War's centennial. The museum deployed life-sized wax figures, dioramas, and audio narratives to present pivotal moments and figures from the war, with particular emphasis on the Battle of Gettysburg. Over its five-decade run, more than 9 million visitors passed through.
The museum closed in early 2014 and its wax figures were sold at auction. The building underwent extensive renovation and reopened in 2015 as the Gettysburg Heritage Center, reorienting its focus from the battle itself to civilian life in Gettysburg before, during, and after the three July days in 1863. The new museum emphasizes interactive exhibits, 3D displays, and video presentations.
Gettysburg's Steinwehr Avenue corridor is among the most historically layered streets in American military history. The town itself served as an improvised hospital during and after the battle, with thousands of casualties treated in its homes, churches, and public buildings. The surrounding landscape contains multiple official and informal burial sites from the 1863 engagement.
Sources
The paranormal accounts associated with this building predate its current incarnation as the Gettysburg Heritage Center. During the wax museum's operational years, reports described disembodied voices — whispering the word 'mine' — and the apparition of a Confederate soldier, described as a figure who had been buried beneath the building before the museum was constructed.
Gettysburg's reputation as a site of concentrated paranormal activity rests on documented historical weight: tens of thousands of soldiers were killed or fatally wounded in and around the town over three days in July 1863. The ground beneath Steinwehr Avenue and the surrounding blocks absorbed this history directly — the town's buildings served as field hospitals, and burial was hasty and incomplete in the immediate aftermath.
The wax museum building's specific claims — burial ground beneath the structure, whispering voices, soldier apparition — fit within Gettysburg's broader pattern rather than standing apart from it. The building itself is now a civilian-history museum, and no reports from the current Heritage Center operation were found in available sources.
The Gettysburg Heritage Center occupies the building that housed the National Civil War Wax Museum from 1962 to 2014, now presenting interactive exhibits on civilian life before, during, and after the July 1863 battle. The building sits on a former Civil War burial ground; disembodied voices and a soldier apparition have been reported in the space.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Kutztown, PA
The Kutztown Area Historical Society occupies the 1892 Public School Building in Kutztown, Berks County, Pennsylvania. The two-story brick and stone structure, designed in the Late Victorian style with a three-story bell tower, was the first school in Pennsylvania to feature central heating. The Kutztown Area School District transferred the building to the Historical Society in 1979; it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in June 1980.
Cincinnati, OH
The Cincinnati Art Museum was founded in 1881 and opened to the public in its current Eden Park building on May 17, 1886. It is one of the oldest art museums in the United States and houses an encyclopedic collection spanning 6,000 years of art history. Reuben Springer led the founding fundraising; the building has been expanded repeatedly into the 21st century.
Flourtown, PA
The Black Horse Inn was constructed in 1744, 32 years before American independence. General George Washington requisitioned the inn as a rest stop for his troops en route to Valley Forge during the Revolutionary War. The building received significant architectural additions in 1833 and was designated a National Register historic site in 2005.