Bath man writes, publishes history of VA
By ROB PRICE THE COURIER-ADVOCATE

Robert Yott's history of the Bath VA is on sale in area stores.

BATH - If you're looking for the perfect holiday gift, Bath resident Robert Yott may have just the thing.

Yott is the author of "From Soldiers' Home to Medical Center," a nearly 200-page history of the Bath VA, New York state's first veterans' home. The paperback is an expanded treatment of an earlier history of the VA Yott wrote in 2004.

Yott describes himself as a Civil War buff, an affinity that attracted him to the idea of writing a history of an institution originally dedicated to serving indigent Civil War veterans. "I was a Civil War enthusiast ever since I was a child," he told The Courier in a recent interview. "As soon as I saw the buildings, I knew there was history there."

Authorized in 1872 by the New York Legislature, the soldiers' home was deemed vital for New York's Civil War veterans who, falling hard times, had been forced to live in veterans' homes located in other states. Not surprisingly, the Legislature incorporated the institution without committing any funds for its construction.

The mission of the home has continually expanded since 1876, when a committee chose the former Rider Farm in the Village of Bath as the site for the soldiers' home. Not only is the property home now to the National Cemetery, the VA itself provides hospital care, extensive out-patient care and extensive treatment and counseling for substance abuse.

"Our veterans need us here," Yott writes in his introduction to the book. "Just as in the past, we need to forsake our own agenda momentarily so we may pay homage to those willing to put their lives in peril for the sake of each of us, our children, our country and our way of life."

Yott serves both as author and publisher of the book, which originally went on sale in 2006. "Two hundred copies went like that," he said, adding he has printed 1,000 copies of the book to date.

The book is available in area stores, including Betty Kay Bake Shop, Fossil Rock Acres, M.J. Ward and Son, Inc., The Curtiss Museum, Browser's, Ginger's Corner and The Magee House. Or call: 776-0709.