With attention to detail and nuance, each intentional element combines to create a space for acknowledgment, reflection, honor and peace in a park-like setting.

Entry Walls

Two granite walls pass each other to form the threshold to the memorial grounds. On the higher wall, stone joints reveal lifelines—twelve lives marked in stone. These lines represent the twelve lives lost—each line marking a lifetime. The lines stop together at the memorial entry, marking the events of May 31, 2019.

At this threshold, a quote and a carved forget-me-not symbol invite quiet reflection—honoring their lives, their memory, and the promise that we will not forget.

Survivors Grove + Homage Stones

After passing through the entry walls, visitors enter the Survivor’s Grove—a space of welcome, remembrance, and healing. A bench near the front wall centers a place for the Homage Stones, left in honor of lives lost, survivors, and all who carry on in their absence.

Dedicated to the survivors, families, friends, and an entire city deeply affected, the grove offers a place of both solitude and gathering. White flowering dogwoods rise above a meadow filled with forget-me-not flowers, while pathways and quiet resting places invite reflection.

Hero Tree

The Hero Tree, the tallest in the woods, stands in quiet strength—offering cover and protection, and is dedicated to the brave first responders and all those who risked their lives for others.

Naturally aligned with the entry through the Survivor’s Grove and the Memorial Glade, the Hero Tree anchors the beginning of the reflecting pool. It stands at the heart of a space bound by reflection.

Paths of Reflection

Paths of Reflection wind through flowering meadows, quiet resting places, and the old trees of the woodland. Along the way, we witness resilience—in the bloom of a flower, the strength of a tree, the soft patter of falling water, and the quiet crunch of stone beneath our feet. The scent of woodland and wildflowers fills the air, while sunlight filters through the canopy and dances across the water’s surface.

These paths lead along a luminous reflecting pool, where all our senses are present—the feel of cool stone and water, the gentle sound of falling water, and the movement along the pool’s edge. At night, the pool glows, lifting its light from the canopy above. Among the branches, 150 lights shimmer, symbolizing the 150 years of combined public service of those we lost.

Memorial Glade

The Memorial Glade is a place of reflection where the names of those we lost appear beside our own reflection in the water. Here, we are with them— gathered in love, in memory, and in profound respect for the lives forever tied to this sacred place.

Twelve names are engraved along the reflecting pool’s edge, marking the presence of those we carry with us. As the reflecting pool reaches the woodland’s edge, it widens into a room surrounded by water and light.

Trees and benches follow a curved wall, while the ground gently slopes to a lower path. There, falling water becomes a tall veil of sound and light. The path rises again, returning us to the Glade—with their memory beside us, every step of the way