War and Peace

Location: Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial, Put-in-Bay, South Bass Island, Lake Erie, Ohio: 93 Delaware Ave, Put-In-Bay, OH 43456, 41°39’14.73" N, 082°48’41.69” W

In the middle of an island in Ohio’s portion of Lake Erie rises a single Doric column 352 feet above the lake, just 5 miles from the U.S.-Canadian border dividing Lake Erie between the two nations.

It is the Perry Victory and International Peace Memorial, at once honoring Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry’s victory over the British naval squadron in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812, while also celebrating the longest undefended border in the world between two nations, in celebration of the partnership in peace between the United States and Canada.

Three flags fly on the site of this National Park, honoring the legacy of these former foes and lasting friends: United States, Canadian, and British. It was during this battle that Commodore Perry penned his famous declaration: “We have met the enemy and they are ours” in his report to General Harrison on the battle’s outcome.

You can be a part of this great story. The National Park Service, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Perry Memorial’s opening, is inviting the public to provide items and messages to place inside a time capsule that will be maintained on the Memorial’s grounds for the next 50 years. Items to be placed in the time capsule should reflect “the Memorial’s place in the community, state, nation and world today.” (From the National Park Service website: http://www.nps.gov/pevi/index.htm) .

Monumental USA is dedicated to highlighting local monuments and the human stories that lay at their foundation. The desire is to reinvigorate civic pride and sense of ownership through interesting monuments to events and personalities great and small across the nation, with a special focus on local and perhaps obscure or forgotten memorials.