Looking down the street along Baltimore Pike in 1863, you would see a barricade of some-sort just past the Farnsworth House. Here, you’d have a man-made wooden fence that would allow Confederates to place their muskets on and fire at the Union on Cemetery Hill. Jumping ahead to present day, you have the Children of 1863 Museum within the Rupp House on the right side of the road, and on the left you have the Welty House and the Brickhouse Inn. However, the Brickhouse Inn was built near the turn of the century in 1898.
The Welty House was built in 1838 by a Jacob Schwartz. He owned the house with his family until 1853. It looks like the Schwartz family has a very sizable family tree. Looking at research, it sounds that Mr. Schwartz was born in 1810 and died in 1863. He was married to Maria Catharine Overdeer Schwartz and both are buried within the Evergreen Cemetery. After the Schwartz family moved out in 1853 and sold it to a Mr. Robert Johnson, they moved onto a farm that is about three miles south of town just behind the present day Gettysburg Outlets. This farmstead was a civil war hospital that helped out the Union Army between the 1st, 6th, and 12th Corps. The farmstead approximately had over two thousand Union soldiers and about one thousand Confederate wounded soldiers. The house and the barn still stands today, but is a private residence.
In 1854, the Welty family moved into the house. Two other younger children, Henry and Robert died in their child years in 1845 and 1853 respectively. Solomon’s family consisted of the following:
During the battle of Gettysburg, no much information is known about the Welty family. However, the Rupp family talks about how their family took shelter in the Welty’s cellar to avoid capture and injuries with the Confederates shooting up and down the picket line towards East Cemetery Hill.
As for the paranormal of the Welty house, I did not know you could go into the house and do a paranormal investigation. There are stories and experiences, but I have yet to go explore this location.