Boy Scout Troop 89, based at the Ontelaunee Rod and Gun Club, New Tripoli, joined the Lehigh Brigade of the Civil War Round Table, the Whitehall Historical Society, and history students from Saucon Valley High in volunteering their services April 21 at the annual Gettysburg Conservation Day.

The contingent from the Lehigh Valley cut brush from around the fences on the Henry Spangler Farm site within the battlefield park.

The volunteers also dismantled, then rebuilt fences in need of repair, as well as painted posts, pickets and rails.

“We’ve been working with the park for 25 years,” said CWRT Brigade Commander Edwin Root, who organized the Lehigh Valley crew. “We’ve been doing it before there was an official program.”

Root mentioned as the Round Table members are not as young as they were, other area organizations, such as Boy Scout Troop 89, have been assisting for the last five years.

“My brother Jim Duffy, who belongs to the Civil War Round Table, volunteered our troop and the rest is history,” said John Duffy, who describes himself as a “common member” of Boy Scout Troop 89.

While the tired volunteers relaxed after a hard morning’s work, they learned from NPS Volunteer Coordinator Caitlin Brown that the property had been the staging ground for Kemper’s Brigade before Pickett’s charge.

The NPS Adopt-A-Position program matches volunteer organizations with regimental positions, or in the case of the contingent from the Lehigh Valley, suggests areas of the park that require attention, according to Brown.