When visitors arrive at Little Round Top in Gettysburg National Military Park, they’re stepping onto hallowed ground.
But with over a million visitors each year, the site – one of the most pivotal sites of the Civil War – needed infrastructure upgrades that could handle massive foot traffic while respecting the history beneath their feet.
For aspiring hardscapers, this innovative retaining wall project that won top honors at the 2025 Hardscape North America awards offers lessons in innovative problem-solving, adaptability, and delivering results under unique constraints.
Creatively Preserving a Historical Site
The parking area at Little Round Top’s summit needed a retaining wall to raise the slope’s grade and improve traffic flow, creating safer gathering areas and better accessibility for tour buses. But its status as a historical site created additional challenges.
“You want to be very respectful of the history of sites like this, and preserving as much of the natural landscape as possible,” said Dave Belyea, Communications & Global Events Manager at CornerStone Wall Solutions Inc.
The original specifications called for a geogrid-reinforced granite boulder wall, but sourcing materials proved difficult. That’s when contractor Structural Engineering Group (SEG) and ELA Group, the project engineer, approached York Building Products about an alternative solution using MagnumStone blocks.
The blocks were ultimately chosen because one of MagnumStone’s signature features are gravity extender units. These components work similarly to geogrid but require significantly less digging. On a historic battlefield where every shovelful matters, this was crucial.
“With less excavation, MagnumStone’s gravity wall system delivers more solutions for common and complex retaining wall projects,” Belyea said.
The hollow core blocks could also be handled with compact construction equipment. This eliminated the need for large staging areas, which worked particularly well for the constrained spaces atop the storied Battle of Gettysburg hillside.
“Small crews are capable of these projects too,” Belyea said. “You can have crews with as little as 2 to 3 people installing well over a thousand square feet of block per day.”
The National Park Service also had specific visual requirements for the site. The team used MagnumStone’s natural ledge face texture on one side of the parapet wall, then attached granite-colored stone veneer to the parking lot-facing side to achieve the desired ashlar pattern. The blocks were stained to match the region’s natural granite color palette.
“It was a really neat way of integrating different hardscaping products to come out with an end product that achieved the structural requirements, long-term stability, and durability required for a historic site with that much traffic, but also the look they envisioned,” Belyea said.
Award-Winning Results
The completed wall reaches 10 feet at its highest point and covers 3,485 square feet, with a hybrid gravity and parapet design. The top courses were filled with concrete to support safety fencing, with posts installed directly into the blocks’ hollow cores for a clean, elegant finish. It also features built-in lateral and vertical drainage channels for superior drainage.
The end result supports active pressures from the roadway and offers a new sidewalk and gathering areas for loading and unloading tour buses.
“Everyone was thrilled with the construction efficiency and the system’s history of performance,” Belyea said. “It looks natural, clean, elegant and fitting of this historic site. The end product was a retaining wall the National Military Park can be proud of, enhancing the safety and experience of tourists who visit from coast to coast or internationally.”
The Little Round Top project was recognized at the 2025 Hardscape North America Awards, taking home the top prize in the Commercial Retaining Wall category.
“It’s nice to showcase what our products can do. It’s an honor to be recognized with an HNA Award for our products and their capabilities. We have an excellent network of production partners and we want to help share their hard work,” Belyea said.
“Seeing the teamwork that goes into all of these projects is special, from consistent block production to scheduling site material deliveries and the creativeness of the engineers and contractors involved to seek out solutions like our gravity extenders. The gravity extenders fit the needs of the project, and resulted in a successful, long-term solution. It’s rewarding to see the full circle moments that come out of it all.”
Lessons for Aspiring Hardscapers
There are many lessons to be learned from an award-winning project like Little Round Top, especially for aspiring hardscapers.
Stay open to alternatives. When the original specifications proved difficult to source, the team didn’t give up. Instead, they proposed an innovative solution.
Efficiency matters. The gravity wall approach with extender units greatly minimized excavation depths compared to alternative solutions, saving time and money while reducing environmental impact.
Small crews with the right tools and systems can tackle impressive installations. This project was possible because the products it used meant they could use compact equipment.
Think about the full picture. This project succeeded because it addressed multiple needs: structural requirements, time constraints, budget considerations, aesthetic demands, and environmental preservation. Great hardscaping is about building something that works on every level.
With Little Round Top, MagnumStone, York Building Products, Structural Engineering Group, and ELA Group crafted work that will stand the test of time, serve its purpose beautifully, and make everyone involved proud of what they’ve accomplished together.