The Flow of Memory in the Culture Garden

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

Before you dive into the history of the boat landing, explore the St. Paul Culture Garden at the park's southeast corner. It is filled with art and poetry that reflect the interwoven and centuries-long stories of the many people who have converged around this bend in the Mississippi River known today as St. Paul.

Images

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

This is a Dakota place.

Look for the words Imnizaska Otunwe carved into one of the granite markers embedded in the ground. Imnizaska Otunwe, "the place of the white cliffs," is the Dakota name, the first and oldest name, for this place. The name comes not from a foreign saint but from the high limestone bluffs that have marked this location on HaHa Wakpa/the Mississippi River for centuries.

According to the Bdote Memory Map Project, the river below has served generations of Dakota people, past and present, as a source of food, medicine, "communication with the physical and spiritual worlds," and a point of contact with other nations in their Minnesota homelands.

River as Metaphor:

immigration and migration

Sources

https://www.stpaul.gov/departments/parks-recreation/natural-resources/arts-gardens/public-art/saint-paul-cultural-garden

Mississippi River, Bdote Memory Map. Accessed July 21st 2020. http://bdotememorymap.org/

The Flow of Memory in the Culture Garden

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information