Building a Custom WordPress Website for Gettysburg Witness Trees
Peter Lukacs reached out to MAjor Designs to develop a website dedicated to documenting Gettysburg’s Witness Trees—trees that stood during the Battle of Gettysburg and still exist today. Each tree featured on the site is backed by detailed photographic and mathematical evidence, so accuracy, organization, and long-term scalability were critical from day one.
Creating a Scalable Content Structure for Long-Term Growth
Instead of relying on a rigid or bloated setup, I built a custom WordPress theme using a structured parent/child page system. This allowed trees to be organized logically by location and hierarchy while keeping the process of adding new content simple.
The goal was to give Peter full control without needing to rely on a developer every time he wanted to expand the site.
To support that, I also created screen-share training videos showing exactly how to log in, create pages, and manage content moving forward.
Driving Organic Traffic with SEO-Friendly Page Structure
One of the biggest wins from this project came from how the content was structured.
By leveraging WordPress’s native page hierarchy and clean URL structure, the site began generating strong organic search traffic across a wide range of Gettysburg-related searches.
Today, Peter manages all content himself and continues to grow the site without ongoing development support.
Expanding the Website into eCommerce with WooCommerce
As the site gained traction, Peter expanded his work into publishing books related to Witness Trees and needed a way to sell them directly online.
To support this, I integrated WooCommerce into the existing website and customized the shop experience to match the original design—so everything felt like one cohesive system.
This included:
- A fully branded WooCommerce storefront
- Secure online payments
- A seamless user experience from browsing to checkout
Streamlining Order Fulfillment and Shipping from WordPress
Beyond just selling products, Peter needed a way to efficiently handle fulfillment.
I implemented shipping tools that allow him to generate labels directly from the WordPress admin, giving him the ability to:
- Process orders
- Generate shipping labels
- Manage fulfillment
All without leaving his website dashboard.
Supporting a Website Rebrand Without Rebuilding
A few years after launch, the website went through a rebrand with updated colors and content.
Because the site was built on a flexible foundation, these updates were implemented without needing a full rebuild—saving time and keeping everything running smoothly.
Ongoing WordPress Maintenance, Security, and Monitoring
Like all MAjor Designs clients, the Gettysburg Witness Trees website is continuously monitored for uptime and security.
This includes:
- SolidWP security integration
- MAjor Monitor uptime tracking
- Ongoing stability and performance oversight
Ensuring the site remains reliable long after launch.