International Peace Garden

This tower between North Dakota, USA and Manitoba, Canada visually points to God, perhaps not the intention of the designer.  Never the less, God is...

Crossing the border -- and, in a world gone crazy with violence and hatred, just think of the miles between us and Canada without armies, guns, fences, suspicion...

In the shadow of the tower is a place for quiet reflection -- with plenty of food for thought in whatever direction your mind tends to travel, and whatever religion or lack thereof.

Not having really read up on the International Peace Garden, we were surprised to find the North American Game Warden Museum this facility.  As we pulled into the parking lot and stepped out of the car, we saw several plaques lining the walk.  Almost immediately we saw two placed in honor of Grace Academy Graduate, David Grove, shot almost two years ago while on duty.

After speaking with the curator of the museum and explaining that we knew of David and his mother, Lucy, she took us outside and pointed out the Pennsylvania plaque honoring David. 

This area honoring those who have fallen in the line of duty is purposefully pointed toward the Peace Tower.

We enjoyed the landscaping in the gardens, obviously designed with care.  As pointed out by the museum curator, the entire facility lacks upkeep because they are short staffed.  Workers, particularly in western North Dakota, prefer the higher paying jobs in the oilfields over the kind of wages these facilities, restaurants, farms and ranches are able to pay.

Each post in a planter has the same message in several different languages, "May Peace Prevail on Earth".

A favorite happenstance involved meeting Blaine and Susie, farmers from ND who were saddened that our first view of the gardens showed some neglect.  While an excellent design is evident and we thoroughly enjoyed the gardens, there were weeds in many places.  The facility is just too large for the number of people working.  They were short thirty-five individuals this year.  In the past the International Peace Garden Music Camp enjoyed an excellent reputation, with concerts hosted at the center of the garden.

 

 

The farmers got on rather well.  We hope to see them in West Michigan some day.