November, 2021 | THE LAKER | Page 3
Yester year
Remembering Lakes Region Veterans By Kathi Caldwell-Hopper
In the past, a special day in mid-November was known as Armistice Day. Today, we mark Nov. 11 as Veterans’ Day, but no matter what the name may be, the day honors those who served. In dedication to veterans, area towns have monuments, lists of soldiers, and special buildings. In the town of Tilton, Charles E. Tilton used some of his funds to erect monuments and statues throughout the town during the 1800s. In 1849, Mr. Tilton returned to New Hampshire from the western part of the country, where he had made his fortune. It was his mission to beautify the town and, with that in mind, he erected statues of historic figures and a monument to honor veterans. Mr. Tilton donated a large granite stone base upon which a statue of a soldier was placed at the intersection of Main and Winter streets in Tilton. The carving on the stone is called Soldiers’ Monument, and it was dedicated in the spring of 1889. According to information at www. tiltonnh.org., funds for the bronze statue were raised through public subscription by the local GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) Post.
New Hampshire Soldiers Home in Tilton, NH in days gone by. This was not so many years after the Civil War, and the family and friends lost in that conflict were never far from the minds of those left behind in towns such as Tilton. (Erecting monuments to the soldiers was a popular way to pay tribute.) Also in the Tilton area, a home was built for veterans in the 1890s, after legislation directed that a place be built to operate as a state-run Soldiers’ Home. The legislation passed Con-
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gress in 1888, according to information at www.nh.gov/veterans. In the Lakes Region and throughout New Hampshire, as elsewhere in the country, veterans who served in the Civil War were dealing with chronic injuries and illness, such as amputations and what we know of today as post-traumatic stress disorder. Many needed medical help and a place to live. The idea of a Soldiers’ Home was popular, and the search began to find a
suitable location. Once again, Charles Tilton helped. He gave to the state a piece of property called the Savage Farm in Tilton. With around 30 acres in a rural setting, the property was a perfect place for a veterans’ home. It met the criteria of Governor David H. Goodell and the appointed veterans’ Board of Managers. The criteria were that the Civil War veterans admitted must not be able to care for themselves due to wounds, advancing age, or other medical problems. The large building, when completed, was made of red brick. As this was the decorative Victorian era, the architectural design had ornate touches. Furnishing such a large building was daunting, but the Women’s Relief Corps raised $5,000 and put that money (a very large sum at the time) to good use purchasing furniture as well as hiring cleaners to make sure the home was spotless from top to bottom. The New Hampshire Soldiers’ Home was formally dedicated on Dec. 3, 1890. At long last, the deserving veterans had a place to call home. The first veterans admitted were
•Yesteryear Continued on page 4
