The 10th Mountain Division Monument standing in Thompson Park in Watertown is a symbol of pride for the community at large. It’s to honor the men and women who have proudly served our country and to thank them for their sacrifice, and with so many people wanting to enjoy it, the Jefferson-Lewis Board of Realtors chose the monument to be cleaned up as its ‘Good Neighbors Week’ project.

The realtors say Fort Drum is such an important part of the North Country, that doing something to honor the 10th Mountain Division is extremely meaningful.

“I think a lot of it is the pride that we have in that we are able to support the people who taking care of our country for us, not just overseas, but you see Hurricane Andrew on here,” Jefferson-Lewis Board of Realtors Executive Officer Lance Evans said. “Even in our community, the things that soldiers bring to our community. They’ve brought a lot of diversity to our area. We have a lot of, well, even employment and a lot of progress has been made basically because the 10th Mountain Division reactivated here."

So to say thank you, a group from the Jefferson-Lewis Board of Realtors set out to beautify the 10th Mountain Division monument that stands tall just a few miles outside the gates of Fort Drum.

“Realtors live in the communities and the realtors care about what goes on in our communities,” Evans said.

It’s this kind of support that so many on Fort Drum often refer to. The kind of support they just don’t see near many other installations and that makes the North Country different and worth being a part of, even long after service time has ended.

It’s become the engine that drives the region.

“If you take with people who were here before 1985, they’ll tell you that there weren’t a lot of stores. There weren’t a lot of different things like that,” Evans added. “There wasn’t a lot of variety like we have now.”

It’s that growth that has fostered these relationships and helped make the North Country and Fort Drum what they both are today.

The housing market is another aspect of life that has taken off because of Fort Drum and, without military housing off post, it has kept local realtors extremely busy.