Rusty weapons. Frayed carpet dotted with greasy chewing-gum spots. Ceiling tiles yellowed by water stains. For years, the visitor center at Pennsylvania's Gettysburg National Military Park looked less like a grand tribute to the 165,000 soldiers who fought there in 1863 than a building that 165,000 sloppy tourists had just tromped through. It was the kind of place that would inspire a kid to give that time-honored summer-vacation question a new twist: "Can we go yet?"

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