Town of Yountville and CalVet Dedicate Restored Heritage Rose Arbor and Accessible Walking Loop at Yountville Veterans Home

Horticultural therapists with the California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet), civic leaders from the Town of Yountville, and forty volunteer rosarians from the UC Master Gardeners of Napa County dedicated the restored Heritage Rose Arbor and All-Abilities Therapeutic Walking Loop on Saturday afternoon at the Veterans Home of California-Yountville at 260 California Drive. Founded in 1884 on a 615-acre foothill campus overlooking the Napa Valley floor, the Yountville facility is the largest veterans home in the United States, serving more than 800 aged or disabled military veterans from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and post-9/11 eras.

Originally planted in the late 1940s outside the historic Lincoln Theater and Main Chapel, the one-acre rose garden had suffered root-stock decline and frost-heaved asphalt paths that impeded motorized wheelchairs and rolling walkers. Over a seven-week autumn restoration, crews replaced rusted pipe arches with twelve powder-coated steel pergola arbors, rejuvenated 320 heirloom hybrid tea and grandiflora rose bushes—including the historic 'Peace', 'Veterans' Honor', and 'Double Delight' cultivars—and installed sixteen waist-high cedar raised beds so seated veterans can prune and deadhead blooms comfortably.

Contractors also poured a 1,400-foot loop of permeable, glare-free buff concrete bordered by shaded redwood companion benches with roll-up wheelchair spaces. At the center of the arbor plaza, masons unveiled solar path bollards and a cast-bronze dedication sundial honoring women veterans.

The $245,000 therapeutic garden restoration was funded by the California Veterans Home Fund and donations from Napa Valley vintner and civic foundations. Community members can learn about volunteer gardening mornings and campus concert events on the CalVet Yountville Veterans Home Portal.