Children’s Memory Garden

Children’s Memory Garden of Nashville

The Children’s Memory Garden, located in Nashville’s Centennial Park, remembers local children who lost their lives to violence. The idea for the Garden came from Kelby Smith in the mid-1990s. Smith, then a 6 year old boy, heard news reports of recent deaths caused by violence and asked his father, Ron Smith, how he could show the families he cared. His dad was a horticulturist and immediately thought of a garden. Jim Fyke, then director of Metro Parks and the Parks Board approved the creation of a Children’s Memory Garden in the Park. Financial and in-kind contributions of plants and materials poured in from local congregations and businesses. This included Charlie Hunt of Hunt Memorials, who donated stone work and markers, an in-kind gift he has continued to do through the years.

In 1996, the Garden was formally dedicated, and 35 children were remembered there. Several local organizations, including the victim advocate organization You Have The Power, volunteered to maintain the Garden in its early years. As the Garden matured, Metro Parks assumed complete maintenance. Unfortunately, with the passage of time, more children lost their lives to violence, and by 2019, the number of children remembered in the Garden had risen to 234.

The Garden is a place of comfort for many families, but time has taken its toll. Not having had the benefit of professional design, the Garden’s narrow path and uneven ground are not handicap-accessible, and its low-lying area is subject to water ponding on the stone markers during heavy rain, causing damage and limiting access.

As part of the Centennial Park Revitalization, the Children’s Memory Garden was redesigned by Nelson Byrd Woltz to restore its dignity and peace, and to make it accessible to all. The Children’s Memory Garden is a project of Metro Parks and Centennial Park Conservancy in partnership with the Children’s Memory Garden Committee, Andrea Conte, Chair. The Garden is being built by Dowdle Construction and will break ground in November 2021.