Homelake: Colorado's Veterans Home Since the Civil War

Near Monte Vista, the small community of Homelake exists for a single purpose: caring for veterans. The Colorado State Soldiers' and Sailors' Home was established here by an act of the state legislature in eighteen eighty-nine, at the urging of the Grand Army of the Republic, to provide for aging and disabled Civil War veterans. Veterans from many wars have lived here across the decades, from the Mexican-American War to present-day conflicts.

The cemetery, laid out in concentric rings around a central Civil War and Spanish-American War monument, holds the remains of many veterans. The facility still operates today as the Colorado State Veterans Center at Homelake.