Dedication: June 16, 2012
Sackets Harbor War of 1812 Bicentennial Peace Garden
This War of 1812 Bicentennial Peace Garden helps link our Main Street's landscaped greenway to the nationally significant War of 1812 battlegrounds at the west end of the street overlooking Lake Ontario. The garden complements the village core attractions — the harbor, Visitors' Center (Augustus Sacket home), Seaway Trail Discovery Center, Pickering-Beach Museum, and Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Site.
Dedicated in June 2012, this Peace Garden is now an integral part of the community's award-winning landscaped grounds, which the national "America in Bloom" organization recognized in 2011 with its top award for small communities.
During the War of 1812, Sackets Harbor was the center of United States naval shipbuilding on the Great Lakes and military headquarters of the northern army. On July 19, 1812 the First Battle of Sackets Harbor caused little damage, but the Second Battle of Sackets Harbor on May 29, 1813 was a pivotal event that involved British and Canadian forces with their First Nations allies fighting against United States forces.
The British attack was initially successful, but in all the confusion their commander ordered a retreat. The U.S. troops, equally confused, burned their own storehouses and set fire to
a warship under construction so these would not fall into enemy hands. Ultimately, the warship was saved and launched.
Though the Crown Forces could not win a decisive battle at Sackets Harbor, neither could the U.S. fleet gain control of Lake Ontario early that summer in their effort to conquer Upper Canada.
War of 1812 Bicentennial Peace Garden Program
During the War of 1812 Bicentennial, Peace Gardens around the Great Lakes commemorate, celebrate and ensure a lasting legacy of 200 years of peace between the U.S. and Canada through specially designated gardens and cultural programming between 2012 and 2014.
Funded by public and private donations, the Sackets Harbor Peace Garden was designed and planted by the Village of Sackets Harbor Tree Committee with assistance from the Village of Sackets Harbor Department of Public Works and the Town of Hounsfield Highway Department.
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