The Monroe County Civil War Roundtable will be hosting a special guest speaker: Historian and UNC-Asheville New Media Professor, Christopher Oakley.

For nearly 160 years, historians have debated and suggested many possible locations for the platform from which Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous “Gettysburg Address.” This debate may now have ended. Using cutting-edge computer animation technology, Oakley, a former Disney animator, studied existing photographs of the November 1863 dedication ceremony and was able to determine the location of the platform. The results of Oakley’s work made the front page of the New York Times in November of 2022. His project is a wonderful example of how 21st-century technology can be used to solve some of history’s most persistent mysteries. In his presentation, Oakley will share with attendees how his decade-long project came to fruition, how his students contributed to the final results, and of course share where Lincoln actually stood while delivering his “Gettysburg Address.”

Please join us in the education room of the Monroe County History Center on Saturday, September 16, 2023, at 7:00 pm for what is sure to be a fascinating presentation. The presentation is free and open to the public.