Marchers retrace Pickett’s Charge

GETTYSBURG, Pa. » Thousands of history buffs took part in a mile-long commemorative march Wednesday across the Gettysburg field where the Confederate Army made its ill-fated Pickett’s Charge 150 years ago to end the pivotal battle of the Civil War.

A National Park Service spokeswoman said it was the most ambitious program ever planned to remember the South’s failed assault, during which 12,000 men in nine brigades tried to break the Union lines. It ended the three-day Battle of Gettysburg on July 1-3, 1863.

Visitors broke up into nine groups led by park rangers and re-enactors dressed in period uniforms. The march wasn’t a re-enactment with gunfire and bayonets. The Park Service says it was a respectful commemoration that ended with buglers playing taps.

Developers raze ancient pyramid

LIMA, Peru » An official of Peru’s Cultural Patrimony Ministry says two real estate development companies have destroyed a pyramid at the oldest archaeological site near the country’s capital.

Deputy Minister Rafael Varon says the companies used heavy equipment to tear down a 20-foot-tall pyramid at the ruins of El Paraiso, a few miles north of Lima.

He said Wednesday his agency has lodged criminal complaints against the two companies.

Peru’s tourism ministry says El Paraiso was built about 4,000 years ago, long before the rise of the Inca culture.

Gay theater joins historic register

CHERRY GROVE, N.Y. » Residents of Long Island’s Cherry Grove community are celebrating the addition of its Community House and Theater to the National Register of Historic Places.

The designation, announced in June, confirms that the facility opened in 1948 is the oldest continuously operating gay and lesbian theater in the United States.

Locals note that 20 years before the Stonewall riots in New York City helped launch the gay rights movement, gays and lesbians were freely expressing themselves in Cherry Grove.

Residents also hope the new designation will spark interest in a fundraiser for the facility. An effort is underway to raise $700,000 to renovate the theater. It was built in Sayville in 1945 and floated to Fire Island on a barge.