International Peace Garden, Botanical garden at Manitoba and North Dakota border, United States and Canada.
The International Peace Garden is a 9.5-square-kilometre botanical park straddling the Canada–United States border between Manitoba and North Dakota. Its features include a 5.5-metre floral clock, fountains, a chime of 14 bells, and a Masonic Auditorium built in the shape of a square and compasses. The twin 37-metre concrete towers that once stood at the border were demolished in 2017.
The International Peace Garden opened on July 14, 1932, as a symbol of the peaceful relationship between Canada and the United States. The slogan "Peace Garden State" was added to North Dakota vehicle plates in 1956 and made the official state nickname the following year. The twin 37-metre concrete towers straddling the border, with a peace chapel at their base, were demolished in 2017 after weather-related erosion made them unsafe; a new tower was slated as of 2018.
The name reflects the unusual situation of a site that sits in two countries, with paths, flowerbeds and monuments laid out without visible borders. Visitors often notice how vegetation from both sides blends together and people from both nations use the same trails without any checkpoints inside.
Anyone wishing to leave the grounds must present a passport or other official documents, since exiting in either direction means entering another country. Inside the site you can move around freely without passing through any controls.
A floral clock roughly 18 feet across (about 5.5 meters) tells time with hands moving among 150,000 freshly planted blooms each season. Fragments of the destroyed Twin Towers from New York were placed here in a memorial area.
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