GETTYSBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — The Gettysburg National Military Park announced earlier today that four historic structures would be made available for lease, with the purpose of making them available as vacation rentals.
The Gettysburg National Military Park is in charge of protecting and preserving 147 historic structures across Gettysburg – many of these structures having witnessed the Battle of Gettysburg about 160 years ago.
According to the Gettysburg National Military Park, through the National Park Service’s (NPS) Historic Leasing Program, they will be offering leasing opportunities for four historic structures that can be found right on the battlefield itself. The goal of this “innovative approach” by NPS is to leverage private funds to help preserve historic buildings for future generations to come.
The available properties for lease are located across multiple iconic destinations of the battlefield, such as:
- Little Round Top
- Devil’s Den
- Wheatfield
Once leased, the four historic structures will be made available as short-term vacation rentals, through platforms such as AirBNB and VRBO. According to the Gettysburg Military Park Service, these short-term vacation rentals will offer an immersive overnight experience – it should be noted that these historic sites will still remain accessible to the general public outside of being rented.
The following historic structures that will be made available for leasing opprintunities, and eventually as short-term vacation rentals are:
- Bushman Farmhouse
- Slyder Farmhouse
- Rose Farmhouse
- Althoff Farmhouse
This unique business opportunity is available for all interested individuals and businesses on a competitive basis. According to the Gettysburg National Military Park, interested persons must fill out a proposal, which will then be judged – the best proposals will then be given the chance to negotiate a final lease agreement.
To obtain the Request for Proposals and other required information you can click here.
Proposals must be submitted electronically to Deanna Harrison at deanna_harrison@nps.gov. Submitted proposals should include ‘Gettysburg RFP’ in the subject line – all proposals are due no later than March 27.
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Interested individuals and businesses are also encouraged to reach out to Deanna Harrison to schedule site visits anytime between Jan. 30 and March 6. Site visits must be held Monday -Friday between the hours of 8 a.m. – 4 p.m..
According to the Gettysburg National Military Park, they anticipate that the evaluation of proposals and lease negotiations will take about 6-8 weeks and the effective lease date will be around June 1, 2023.
