At the center of historic Courthouse Square in downtown Penn Yan, New York stands the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, dedicated "to honor the men of Yates County who fought to save their country" during the Civil War. This 52-foot-tall, 120-ton tapered rectangular shaft of Barre granite is topped by a figure sculpted larger than life of a color bearer standing at attention, and is surrounded atop its pedestal by a quartet of life-size figures representing servicemen in the infantry, cavalry, artillery, and navy. The base is inscribed with the names of the eight principal battles in which local soldiers gave their lives - namely Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, Vicksburg, Wilderness, Antietam, Petersburg, Spotsylvania, and Appomattox - and the admonition LEST WE FORGET. The cornerstone for the monument was laid in May 1907, construction was completed in November, and the monument was formally dedicated on Memorial Day of the following year in a ceremony that, while cut short due to inclement weather, included a grand parade through the downtown streets, marching band performances, a ceremonial decoration of veterans' gravesites at Lake View Cemetery, and the unveiling of the monument itself, preceded by remarks from various local officials and surviving Civil War veterans. Surrounding the monument originally were a pair of military surplus 9-inch Dahlgren naval cannons and a pyramid of 224 cannonballs; these were removed for scrap in 1942 (and had been a point of controversy around town for some time, due to the influence of the isolationist America First movement that was popular locally in the period just before Pearl Harbor) and replaced later in the decade by a pair of World War II-era 57 mm anti-tank guns. As seen in March 2022.