A Peace Pole For Canton

A Peace Pole is a monument dedicated to Peace and acts as a focal point for communities to come together and visualize world peace. Peace Poles are multi-sided and display the words, "May Peace Prevail On Earth," inscribed on each side in different languages. The Peace Pole tradition began over 50 years ago and there are presently more than 200,000 Peace Poles in 190 countries around the world.

Our Peace Pole is a five-sided copper pole with the peace prayer written in two different languages on each side (ten languages in total). The languages are: English, Chinese, Spanish, Hindi, French, Swahili, Arabic, Hebrew, Russian and Cherokee. At the base of each side you'll find an animal track. The animal tracks are of a heron, opossum, turtle, wild boar and grasshopper. Aside from being fun and interesting, the animal tracks help you identify the languages via a guide sign that will be located near the Peace Pole.

A great deal of thought went into the language choices, and one major consideration was to include languages from each continent. Choosing the most spoken languages was also a prime concern, as well as trying to include languages that are taught and spoken in our schools. We included Cherokee to pay homage to our Native Americans. A photo of our peace pole can be seen at the bottom right-hand corner of this page.

Construction Has Begun ~
Dedication & Concert Scheduled For
September 8, 2007 !

It has been over four years since Reverend Richard McSherry first proposed the idea of a peace pole being erected in Canton. The Reverend has since moved to New York, but the dream of a monument to the hope of peace has been carried on by a small group of dedicated Canton residents.

Through fundraisers, newspaper articles and booths at Sam Collins Day, A Peace Pole For Canton has been successful in reaching many generous people and businesses here in town and surrounding communities, to make this concept a reality.

In early 2007, Jim Volovski, perhaps better known as Stone Man Masonry Co., read about the Peace Pole Project and called us from Australia to volunteer a donation of pavers and labor to construct the "park" and walkways we had dreamed of to surround the focal point of the Pole.

Prior to that, we had received donations of two beautiful landscape designs from Mike Humphries and Laurel Bean of Twin Gardens Nursery and Phil Doyle of LADA PC, and approval from the Town Of Canton to go forward and submit plans for the site.

Move forward to August, 2007 and the dream of A Peace Pole For Canton has become a reality. Construction has begun with pavers being set by The Stone Man and his crew. Excavation and materials have been donated by Tom Hinman of Riverside Nursery and John Raymond of Moffatt & Raymond. The Cherry Brook Garden Club has designed, selected and planted a beautiful garden to surround the "inner circle." Two generous families have donated funds to purchase benches for the garden.

We have so many people to thank, including those mentioned above. Our "In Appreciation" page lists all the donors and contributors to A Peace Pole For Canton. All of these generous people and companies will have their names included in a list that will be forever enshrined inside the peace pole.

A Dedication Ceremony is planned for September 8, 2007, 4 PM (rain or shine) at the Peace Pole site, located at the corner of East Hill Road and Symonds Avenue- also know as Little Mills Pond. There will be a drum circle, live music, a presentation of the Peace Pole to the town, some short history on the project, the unveiling of the Peace Pole. . . and an added surprise (sorry, no hints. You'll have to be there to enjoy it).

"May Peace Prevail On Earth," is a simple message with deeper meaning for all who read it, pray it or say it. Our hope is that this message and the peaceful setting of our Canton Peace Pole, will provide inspiration and a tranquil place for reflection.

We are still accepting donations toward ongoing maintanance of the gardens. For more information, simply e-mail us at: info@cantonpeacepole.org

We also have a limited number of T-shirts available for $18 which includes shipping. To order, call Brad @ 693-3094 or e-mail @ brad.g@mac.com  and we will e-mail you a photo of the shirts.  They are available in Teal or Black and in several sizes. The shirts feature our logo printed in white on the front of the shirt, and the peace prayer on the back.

Donations and checks for T-shirts may be sent directly to:
Canton Peace Pole, PO Box 159, Canton, CT 06019

"May Peace Prevail On Earth"is a message worth sharing.