International Peace Garden
U.S. and Canadian Border (near Dunseith, North Dakota)
By Nicole Thom-Arens
Published in 2023
Somewhere, tucked in an old photo album in my childhood home is a picture of my brother and me standing beside a clock made of flowers. I was in primary school, and this is the image I have burned in my memory of the International Peace Garden.
The seed for the garden was planted in 1928 as an idea of Dr. Henry J. Moore from Islington, Ontario. He imagined a place where people could celebrate peace and friendship and shared interests. Within a year, he made a formal proposal to the National Association of Gardeners. The concept was approved, and it was decided that the location of the garden would be near the geographical center of North America (Rugby, North Dakota). North Dakota donated 888 acres and Manitoba 1,451 acres to make the garden a reality, which is located 47 miles from Rugby. According to the International Peace Garden website, more than 50,000 people from across the U.S. and Canada traveled to the International Peace Garden to celebrate its dedication and groundbreaking ceremony in 1932.
Today, the International Peace Garden remains tucked between U.S. and Canadian customs. While no ID is needed to enter the park, you will need to show ID to return home as you will go through customs on either side of the border.
The seed for the garden was planted in 1928 as an idea of Dr. Henry J. Moore from Islington, Ontario. He imagined a place where people could celebrate peace and friendship and shared interests. Within a year, he made a formal proposal to the National Association of Gardeners. The concept was approved, and it was decided that the location of the garden would be near the geographical center of North America (Rugby, North Dakota). North Dakota donated 888 acres and Manitoba 1,451 acres to make the garden a reality, which is located 47 miles from Rugby. According to the International Peace Garden website, more than 50,000 people from across the U.S. and Canada traveled to the International Peace Garden to celebrate its dedication and groundbreaking ceremony in 1932.
Today, the International Peace Garden remains tucked between U.S. and Canadian customs. While no ID is needed to enter the park, you will need to show ID to return home as you will go through customs on either side of the border.
The floral clock from my childhood remains near the entrance of the garden. It is made up of more than 2,000 annuals and is a duplicate of the original Bulova Floral Clock located in Berne, Switzerland. Bulova donated the clock to the International Peace Garden in 1964, according to the garden’s website.
As you make your way through the Formal Garden, you’ll see more than 80,000 annuals and perennials blooming during the summer months, but the International Peace Gardens is open year-round for camping, hiking, skiing, and snowshoeing. There are campsites and cabins available to rent.
Later this year (2023), the garden will open its expanded Conservatory—housing “cacti and succulents from every corner of the world.” The Conservatory, according to the garden’s brochure, “also serves as a library for protected plants that could someday be extinct.”
The International Peace Garden puts on a beautiful display at peak bloom, but celebrating the meaning of the garden, the ideas it was founded on, is what makes the trip memorable and worthwhile. During times of war and global conflicts going back to WWII, this garden has stood, and continues to stand, as symbol of peace—a place where citizens can cross an international border freely without fear or interrogation. People mingle with each other, bask in the beauty of nature, and take refuge in the tranquility and surprising quiet of the garden. May all who visit be inspired and remember peace should not be just a dream but a goal of each citizen of every nation.
