Tompkins County Veterans' Memorials Tour

Tour sites that commemorate the men and women of Tompkins County who have served in wartime, from the Revolutionary War to the current conflicts in Southwest Asia.

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Tompkins County Veterans' Memorials Tour

Groton, New York 13073, United States

Created By: Ithaca Heritage

Tour Information

Tompkins County honors veterans who have served during wartime in many ways. Volunteers decorate veterans' gravestones with American flags on Veterans Day and Memorial Day. Parades include veterans and their supporters. At the "11 on the 11th" Veterans Day ceremony at DeWitt Park's War Memorial, attendees pay tribute to the fallen and their fellow soldiers.

Visit the sites on this Tompkins County Veterans' Memorials Tour to learn about the men and women who distinguished themselves through military service from the Revolutionary War to the most recent armed conflicts.

ACCESSIBILITY NOTES ABOUT THE TOUR:

Intended to be a driving tour or an avid biking trail.

Listen to the tour on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/tompkinshistory/sets/tompkins-county-veterans-memorials-tour


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What You'll See on the Tour

The grave plots of military veterans surround the U.S. Navy cannon at the Groton Rural Cemetery. Since 1900, the cannon has been on loan from the Grand Army of the Republic. The cannon was used on the U.S.S. James S. Chambers during the Civ... Read more
The polished black granite Terrence C. Graves Memorial pays tribute to the Medal of Honor awardee who lost his life rescuing fellow soldiers during the Vietnam War.  Groton Historian Rosemarie Tucker chronicled the life of Terrence "Terry"... Read more
Two military veterans' monuments anchor the front of Groton's Carrington-Fuller American Legion Post 800. One memorial honors the men and women who served in World War II, and the other lists the Groton soldiers who gave their lives durin... Read more
On the campus of Tompkins/Cortland Community College, the Civil War Nurses Memorial was dedicated in September 2016 to honor specifically the Tompkins County women who tended wounded soldiers during the Civil War and more generally to the t... Read more
Flagpole and monument LISTEN HERE ...
Flagpole and monument LISTEN HERE ...
There are many veterans' graves dotted throughout Dryden's Green Hill Cemetery. Notable gravesites include those of Civil War nurse Julia Cook (?-1908) and Civil War U.S. Colored Troop (USCT) soldiers Edward Sorrell (1824-1864) and John Sor... Read more
During World War II, a group of women formed the Brooktondale Bugler Association to keep Caroline soldiers fighting overseas informed of local news. The group published a bi-monthly newspaper and sent it to service members from the area. Af... Read more
Erected in 1953, the World War II Memorial in the rotunda of Anabel Taylor Hall commemorates more than 500 Cornellian casualties in that conflict. Since then, the list of casualties from the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and more recent conf... Read more
Dedicated in 1932, this Gothic Revival-style cloister between two towers honors Cornellians who died in World War I. The names of major battles are carved above the cloister windows, and insignias of different units in which Cornellians ser... Read more
The Baldwin Memorial Staircase was named in honor of Morgan Smiley Baldwin (1894-1918), a 1915 Cornell graduate who enlisted in World War I and died after one of the Battles of the Hindenburg Line in France. He is buried in the Somme Amer... Read more
There is a boulder monument with a Daughter of the American Revolution (DAR) plaque attached to it at the Old East Cemetery. The plaque lists four Revolutionary War veterans: Jesse Clark (d. 1837), Asa Hollister (d. 1839), Ichabod Backus,... Read more
Doctor Tarbell (1838-1895) fought in major battles during the Civil War, including Bull Run, Antietam, and Chancellorsville. After escaping from a prisoner-of-war camp, Tarbell returned home to Groton, New York to marry his childhood sweet... Read more
The Sydney Post 41 of the Sons of Union Veterans maintains the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) Memorial at the Ithaca City Cemetery. According to Barbara Ebert's history of the cemetery, the organization was given the lot in 1878, inte... Read more
Charles S. Shaw (d. 1901) served during the Civil War in the 26th Regiment of U.S. Colored Infantry. LISTEN HERE ...
A stone plaque at the base of a majestic oak tree honors the service of Lieutenant Earl W. Benjamin Jr. (1921-1944), who was killed in action during the Battle of the Bulge on December 27, 1944. LISTEN HERE ...
Revolutionary War veteran James T. Van Slyck (d. 1837) LISTEN HERE ...
The 26th Regiment United States Colored Infantry Memorial honors 26 African American men from Ithaca and Corning who volunteered to fight for the Union cause in the Civil War. After President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in ... Read more
The War Memorial at DeWitt Park honors soldiers from Tompkins County killed in conflicts from the Civil War to the most recent battles in Southwest Asia. Cornell architecture professor LeRoy Burnham (1879-1952) designed the World War I Rol... Read more
A flagpole monument in front of the Immaculate Conception School memorializes a 1957 graduate of the school, John C. Smith, Jr. On June 8, 1967, Smith died while serving aboard the U.S.S. Liberty in the Eastern Mediterranean. LISTEN HERE ...
In beautiful downtown Ludlowville stands a park given to the Town of Lansing by the International Salt Works. At this park is not only the impressive Ludlowville Falls, but also a memorial to the boys who served in World War II. LISTEN HERE... Read more

 

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