Sacred Places
Northeast Interfaith Peace Garden
Five small gardens, five faiths, and a labyrinth of brick paving stones.
WHERE
Baltimore, MD
SETTING
Neighborhood
PARTNER INSTITUTION
St. Anthony of Padua Church
Visit
Where it is
4414 Frankford Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21206
What happens here
The garden is open to all and welcomes anyone to spend quiet time in it. Visitors walk the labyrinth using brochures that explain how, and record their reflections in journals where they can also read the thoughts of others who have come before. The Friends of the Northeast Interfaith Peace Garden, a volunteer group, promote the labyrinth and gardens through year-round programming and events.
HOW IT CAME TO BE
It has been growing since 2000.
01
The Need
The garden was planted on the grounds of St. Anthony of Padua Church in 2000, in the Gardenville community of northeast Baltimore.
02
The Vision
The garden was to be a place of peace and healing for all who came to visit. In 2008 that widened: a new section would pursue interfaith understanding by highlighting the sacred writings of the world's major religious traditions.
03
The Transformation
A quarter century of growth has layered the site. Flowering trees and shrubs turn over with the seasons. A stepping stone footpath runs through the older part, past teak benches sitting in light and shadow and a lighted fountain and pool that give the sound of bubbling water. A 43-foot labyrinth of brick paving stones anchors the garden, a form people of every creed and culture have looked to as the path walked through a life. The 2008 section added the Sacred Writings Garden, where a circular stone path winds past five small gardens dedicated to Christianity, Judaism, Islam, the Earth Religions, and the Eastern Religions; each holds a plaque of its scripture and is planted with flowers, herbs, and shrubs named in those same texts. The site has been designated a Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation, and local business L. F. Mahoney supported the repair of its multilingual Peace Pole.
WHO TENDS IT
Lauren Goodsmith
Firesoul, Northeast Interfaith Peace Garden
Read more →
HEAR FROM THE VISITORS
From the Little Yellow Journal
Peace and Blessings To all!!! Happiness shall be poured upon the World. Heal The World. Make it a Better Place, For You and For Me and the entire Human Race! :)
– The perfect stranger
