The International Peace Garden – Canada and the USA – by Jennifer Battcher. The North Star Reports: Global Citizenship and Digital Literacy, at NorthStarReports.org and facebook.com/NorthStarReports
On the border of Canada and the United States is a 2300-acre garden where visitors can cross between Canada and the USA with no restrictions. No documentation is needed to enter the garden, but one must pass through customs to re-enter either nation. A passport isn’t necessary to re-enter, birth certificates and proof of residency are also accepted.
The garden, built in 1932, sits in the Turtle Mountains on the border of North Dakota and Manitoba. It was constructed as a symbol of peace between the two nations. A cairn built of local stone welcomes visitors with a promise of peace where the two nations declare, “… as long as men shall live, we will not take up arms against one another.”
The park is brimming with gardens, lakes, trails and wildlife. A floral clock ticks away in a background of trickling water and quiet conversations. Bells gently chime from a clock tower dedicated to war veterans. Paths wind through many floral arrangements including the Canadian and United States flags made completely out of flowers.
The government of Japan presented the garden with Peace Poles inscribed with the phrase “May Peace Prevail” in 28 languages. One garden displays fragments of the World Trade Centers as a stark reminder of this need for peace.
The only building that sits on both sides of the border is a peace chapel. Every inch of the limestone walls are etched with famous quotes about peace, making visible the efforts of people throughout history who tried to bring peace to the world. A small cafe serves soups, fruits, and sandwiches but the best treat is the refreshing purple Juneberry ice cream. The International Peace Gardens are an incredibly tranquil escape and a beautiful reminder of the peaceful relations between two nations.
Sources: ndtourism.com; peacegardens.com
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The North Star Reports: Global Citizenship and Digital Literacy (http://NorthStarReports.org) is a student edited and student authored open access publication centered around the themes of global and historical connections. Our abiding philosophy is that those of us who are fortunate enough to receive an education and to travel our planet are ethically bound to share our knowledge with those who cannot afford to do so. Therefore, creating virtual and actual communities of learning between college and K-12 classes are integral to our mission. In three years we have published over 250 articles covering all habitable continents and a variety of topics ranging from history and politics, food and popular culture, to global inequities to complex identities. These articles are read by K-12 and college students. Our student editors and writers come from all parts of the campus, from Nursing to Biology, Physical Therapy to Business, and remarkably, many of our student editors and writers have long graduated from college. We also have writers and editors from other colleges and universities. In addition to our main site, we also curate a Facebook page dedicated to annotated news articles selected by our student editors (http://www.facebook.com/NorthStarReports). This is done by an all volunteer staff. We have a frugal cash budget, and we donate much of our time and talent to this project. The North Star Reports is sponsored and published by Professor Hong-Ming Liang, NSR Student Editors and Writers, The Department of History and Politics of The College of St. Scholastica, and the scholarly Middle Ground Journal. For a brief summary, please see the American Historical Association’s Perspectives on History, at: http://www.historians.org/perspectives/issues/2013/1305/Opening-The-Middle-Ground-Journal.cfm
Hong-Ming Liang, Ph.D., Editor-in-Chief and Publisher, The North Star Reports; Chief Editor, The Middle Ground Journal; Associate Professor of History and Politics, The College of St. Scholastica. Kathryn Marquis Hirsch, Managing Editor, The North Star Reports.
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