Some pix from earlier in the year and this weekend from the Dayton VA...the old "National Soldiers Home" (and military cemetery).

 

Built for Civil War veterans orginally (union vets), it was a popular destination in the 19th century for Daytonians and beyond

 

 

 

You can take an online virtual tour of the home via vintage old pix and postcards.

 

Here is what it looks like today.

 

The entry gate (with fairly interesting carvings on the pylons)

 

 

 

During the 19th Century people arrived via a steam dummy railroad, which was later supplemented by a horsecar. The horsecar was replaced by two electric streetcar lines.  Here is the streetcar station and loop for the Home Avenue Street Railroad...now abandoned:

 

 

 

The steam dummy became a freight branch line and no longer comes on to the grounds.

 

The grounds.  Most of the orginal victorian era soliders home structures are now gone, but the grounds are still nice.  It was the lavishly landscaped grounds that acted as a public park for Daytonians...a place to go for a Sunday excurison:

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the older buildings and grounds visible here

 

 

Gazebo and old building

 

 

Reconstructed gazebo

 

 

Some original buildings:

 

 

 

 

Various types of single-family housing..the managment of the home (the Commandant, Chief Surgeon, etc) lived on-site..this would be like officers housing in a modern military base

 

 

 

 

 

 

Their are various types of "barracks" (dormitories and group quarters) for the veterans on site.  The place is also the site of a big VA hospital, too. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two chapels...the Catholic chapel:

 

 

 

 

...and the Protestant chapel, which is probably the architectural jewel of the complex:

 

 

 

The chapel overlooks the Military Cemetery

 

 

..the centerpiece of which is this monument.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very Cool!

 

I was just thinking to myself last night that it has been a long time since we had a Jeff thread.

There is a series of events this weekend at the VA.  A few pix from Saturday

 

 

 

There was a mass decoration of graves by the Boy Scouts, but families did their own decorating, too....

 

 

 

 

There was various re-enactment things going on, including a Civil War re-enacement camp.  This was a Vietnam and Korean War era display, put together by a former Army medic, so there is a medic theme to the exhibit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you very much...very nice pictures, very impressive place.

What a great thread to view today.  Thank you.

At first, I thought this said Danville, VA.

 

Great shots, Jeff.

Very nice!

 

I remember doing the flag thing there back when I was in the Boy Scouts.

dayton virginia?

Very impressive!  The gravestones in your pics look recent (1999), did you see any real old ones (1800's)?

An impressive, historic place. I always find veterans' memorials powerfully moving.

 

Notwithstanding all the talk by pacifists across generations, violent conflict has been a part of human history since earliest times. All the signs indicate it's not going to stop, but only to become more widespread and more chaotic. The alliances and conflicts within and among factions and nations become increasingly tangled and confusing, and sometimes it's difficult to figure out who hates whom and for what reasons. Apparently combat is an unpleasant part of the intrinsic nature of at least a large part of humanity. :-(