Garden of Honor Memorial
Back in January 2023, while seeing family in western Michigan, I visited the Garden of Honor Memorial, also called Veteran’s Park, in Allendale Community Park of Allendale Charter Township, about twenty-five minutes southwest of Grand Haven. Designed and constructed twenty-five years ago in 1998 by a local artist, the impressive but controversial memorial contains statues of soldiers and civilians surrounding an eagle-topped obelisk. The eight represented conflicts include the War of 1812, Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, and Gulf War.
This memorial was a subject of controversy a few years ago. The group Allendale for Equality petitioned the township to remove the statue representing the Civil War, as they perceived the representation of a Black child crouching between a White Union soldier and a White Confederate soldier to be a racist, “Lost Cause” image. Protesters of this group defaced the Confederate statue by breaking his nose and chin. As someone who has extensively studied this period of history, I do understand why members of AfE are offended by the imagery. I personally appreciate the inclusion of both soldiers, as this configuration represents how the country was and still is divided over issues of race, class, and property rights. However, the artist made unwise choices in the depiction, including the portrayal of the Confederate Flag, and the portrayal of the Black child. The Confederate soldier holds his flag in a neutral stance, just as the Union soldier holds the Stars and Stripes. While this imagery is familiar to many Americans, the flag was not adopted until the second half of the Civil War and represents a “Lost Cause” narrative, that some White residents of the South believe they were innocent of wrongdoing and unfairly punished by the aggressive North. The depiction of the Black child deviates from standard depictions of enslaved people illustrated by abolitionists and first appearing in the early 19th century. This choice has two main issues: the artist chose a child instead of an adult, and the Black person is surrounded by two White people rather than standing independently. This creates a paternalistic situation, where the child representing all Black people must rely completely on the actions of two adults seemingly representing all White people. (If you are interested in learning the nuances of this topic, my most succinct presentation is part of the online journal Coalition for Master’s Scholars on Material Culture.)
Ultimately, the township board of Allendale decided to leave the statue in place but put up a sign explaining the situation. While this is not the outcome wanted by AfE, I believe this is the best temporary solution. The AfE proposed replacing the offending statue with a new design portraying a White man, Black man, and Native American man, all based on actual Civil War era Union soldiers from the area. While I appreciate the idea of an inclusive statue, especially one representing local figures, this is still an imperfect solution, as it does not acknowledge the Asian American men and Hispanic American men who served in the Civil War, not to mention the women who served as soldiers, nurses, spies, and other major contributing roles. Like so many other national events, the motives surrounding the war were so complex and so greatly shaped modern American culture and government that a single statue could never fully convey what happened.
The memorial and surrounding forty-acre park are open to the public year round. I visited on a particularly cold day, so be sure to dress according to the weather. Plenty of parking is available. The memorial is wheelchair accessible during the spring, summer, and fall, with plenty of places to sit for those with limited mobility. Unfortunately, the memorial is not cleared of snow during the winter, and this part of Michigan is known for its constant snowfall. Little signage and no audio tour is available at this time, although the township board expressed interests in creating these during the hearings about the statue. The statues are lit at night and visible from the highway, so visit at both times if you are able.