The Witness Trees at Gettysburg’s Christ Lutheran Church, on Chambersburg Street, have been completely removed. These Linden trees were approximately 170 years old.

Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church is the oldest structure in Gettysburg continuously used as a Church. It was founded in 1835 to be the English speaking Lutheran Church in Gettysburg (St. James Lutheran Church, in existence since 1789, conducted its services in German), and to be the primary assembly hall for the Lutheran Theological Seminary and for Pennsylvania (Gettysburg) College.

See our series on Christ Lutheran Church:

In our first post, Pastor Stephen R. Herr and Dr. Conrad B. Richter showed us some exterior parts of the structure and the narthex.

In our second post, we saw some of the nave, or central part of the church, and we discussed the church’s roll during the battle.

In our third post we looked at a picture of West Point’s Class of 1915 sitting on the steps of Christ Lutheran, observed some stained glass windows, and stood in the church area used as an operating room during and immediately following the Battle of Gettysburg.

In our fourth post we learned about the church bell.

In our fifth post we showed some panoramas from the Christ Lutheran Cupola.

In our sixth post we were given a sample of the songs and stories from the summer program “Candlelight at Christ Church, Songs and Stories of a Civil War Hospital.”

In our seventh post we wrote about the witness trees when word first reached us that they would be cut down.

In our previous Christ Lutheran Church post we showed that the east tree had been completely removed, and most of the west tree.

In today’s post, we show that both trees are now down, and for the first time in approximately 150 years, there is a completely unobstructed view of the Chambersburg Street side of the church.