History & local legend
Joseph and Mary Sherfy’s peach orchard became a battlefield on July 2, 1863, when Union artillery occupied the rise and Confederate troops attacked. The fighting damaged the trees and ruined most of that year’s harvest. When the peaches ripened in August, Mary said she could preserve only ten two-quart jars. She kept them unopened, and one eventually entered the national park’s collection.
Ghost stories associated with the orchard describe soldiers among the trees, sometimes noticed only afterward in photographs. Collectors also place it among the Gettysburg locations where visitors report figures apparently repeating parts of the battle.
The orchard has been replanted several times since 1863.
Sources
- Troy Taylor, American Hauntings, reports of battlefield apparitions at specific Gettysburg sites including the Peach Orchard
- Celebrate Gettysburg, licensed battlefield guides Joy Boden and Deb Novotny on the ruined harvest and surviving jar
- PANICd, site-specific collected reports of apparitions in Peach Orchard photographs
- National Park Service, position of the Peach Orchard and Daniel Sickles’s line
