In God We Trust, United We Stand, September 11, 2001, Memorial Garden is a community garden that was constructed to commemorate the lives of those that were lost to the September 11th Terrorist Attacks. The garden is located in Beaumont, Texas right in front of the Beaumont Botanical Gardens, which is located in Jefferson County, Texas. The garden was designed by the director of the Botanical Gardens Bob Whitman, and is owned by the city of Beaumont. The garden became open to the public after it was dedicated on June 2, 2002. The dedication ceremony included speeches made by members of the Fire Department of New York, a performance by the Southeast Texas Symphony Quintet, and a flag raising done by U.S. Veterans. The garden is registered under the U.S. Forest Service Living Memorials Project.
The memorial’s design consists of a curved pathway with flowers planted on both sides of the path leading up to a pentagon shaped structure. These flowers are either red, white, or blue. At the entrance of the garden structure there are three flagpoles and two bronze eagle statues. Inside the garden there are several other attractions including two granite rock towers, eight smaller rock towers, and a bronze statue of a German shepherd rescue dog. The flowers within the actual garden consist of red, white and blue seasonal flowers, similar to the flowers planted along the pathway leading into the garden. There are also a variety of different flowering trees surrounding the memorial, including blooming white myrtle trees. The soil that the flowers are planted contains a mixture of healthy growing soil and soil taken from each of the crash sites from 9/11. The entire memorial takes up a total of 2,025 square feet.
When asked about its dedication, the director of Botanical Gardens, and designer of the memorial garden, claims that the purpose of the garden was to “not ever forget”. But because of the beautiful and delicate design of the memorial, the garden can serve as much more than a remembrance of the victims. Gardens and flowers tend to play a much bigger role in the lives of those that interact with their beautiful nature. In her article “Garden and Dwelling: People in Vernacular Gardens”, Professor Clarissa Kimber explains that a garden acts as a place of retreat, relief, and comfort to individuals who are mourning from a tragic loss. The flowers within gardens can represent different virtuous and peaceful traits, such as tranquility, courage, or love. The red, white, and blue flowers could also represent different comforting thoughts to the people who look upon this particular memorial garden. The “In God We Trust, United We Stand, September 11th, 2001 Memorial Garden” can also play the role of comfort for the families of victims who are trying to cope with their grief. Clarissa Kimber also explains how gardens tend to bring the community who constructed it closer together. The work that goes into building and maintaining a garden is a cooperative effort, and it involves a lot of dedication. So, the garden also lives up to “United We Stand” by bringing the surrounding community closer together by building this memorial as a garden. This memorial garden is seen as much more than just another common remembrance, but a refuge for those scarred by 9/11, as well as place to unite the community facing such a tragic memory for everyone in the United States.