A handcrafted diorama depicting the Battle of Gettysburg, the product of a chance Facebook Marketplace find, now stands in the foyer of Lehighton Area High School’s social studies hallway thanks to a family donation and a $3,000 gift from a local fraternal organization.

The diorama depicts Confederate Gen. James Longstreet’s assault on the Union left flank on July 2, the second day of the three-day battle. It was built by Larry Snook of Bowie, Maryland, between 2010 and 2015. Snook, who was approximately 80 years old at the time, according to Lehighton teacher Tyler Harris, spent five years crafting the piece.

The path to Lehighton began last July when Harris’ colleague Jim Gurka spotted the diorama on Facebook Marketplace for $5,500 and forwarded the listing.

“He sent it my way and jokingly said, ‘Ty, you should get this for your classroom. It would be great,’ ” Harris said. “And I laughed and I said, ‘Yeah, not for $5,500.’ ”

After some back and forth with Gurka and fellow teacher Terry Haberman, Harris began to see a possibility. He pitched the idea to school administration as a tie-in to America 250, the national commemoration of the country’s 250th anniversary, and reached out to the seller.

The diorama belonged to Kevin Noll, a Lehighton graduate from the class of 1971 who was retiring and looking to sell items from his shop. The family now lives in Laurys Station. Harris reached out to Noll’s son, who was managing the sale.

Within an hour, Noll’s son returned with an answer: The family would reduce the price by $2,500 if the school could raise $3,000.

Haberman then went to work finding the funding, reaching out to the Fraternal Order of Orioles, Nest No. 183. The organization met the following Tuesday to discuss the request.

“They graciously agreed to give us the full $3,000 for the purchase of the diorama for the school district,” Harris said.

With funding secured, Harris, Gurka and Haberman drove the school’s box truck to Laurys Station to retrieve it. The top portion of the diorama alone weighs 500 pounds. Moving it into the building required additional help.

Woodshop teacher Kevin Bond and metal shop teacher Bernard Shea were still in the school when the crew returned partway through the trip.

“When we told them what we were planning on doing, they immediately got everything we needed,” Harris said. “They measured doorways, took out pieces of the door frame from the center to make sure we would have full clearance. Then it was a team effort between all five of us to turn it around corners and tilt it whatever way it needed to go.”

Harris said his connection to Gettysburg runs deep.

“I fell in love with the town when I was 10 years old,” he said. “That’s actually what sparked my interest in history and led me to becoming a history teacher.”

Students responded to the diorama immediately. Harris said he typically fields only a handful of Gettysburg-related questions throughout an entire school year. That changed on the diorama’s first day.

“In the first period of the first day, I got more questions from students that actually held their weight in water. They were genuine questions,” he said.

Students asked about terrain, troop visibility across the battlefield, uniform differences, command structure and battle tactics — including questions about Berdan’s Sharpshooters, an elite Union marksman unit depicted in the piece. Harris said the response reflects exactly what he had hoped for.

“I’m a big believer in teachable moments,” he said. “I believe you can truly tie it into a lot of American history, a lot of social studies subjects as a whole.”

Harris said he also plans to connect the diorama to discussions of psychology, including combat-related PTSD, and to use it as a resource well beyond 2026.

“I truly believe America 250 shouldn’t just last the year,” he said. “It should last for the next decade or so.”

The school plans to install a plaque crediting everyone involved in bringing the diorama to Lehighton.