While the current health pandemic has certainly impacted my social life and ability to try out a…read moreton of new businesses, it's also served to help me work on some projects that have needed my attention. I've had my vision set on establishing a memorial here in Indiana for quite some time, though I'm still exploring locations, acquiring land, and design options. As a result, I've been researching and exploring Indiana's monuments, old and new, and in the process learning about Indiana history. If you know me, you know that I'm a bit of a peacenik. I do a lot of work in the area of non-violence and am pretty much drawn to anything that promotes peace. I was unaware of Decatur, Indiana's Peace Monument until I began doing some research regarding Indiana's memorials. Located at the Adams County Courthouse, the Peace Monument was dedicated on October 30, 1913 and is a cenotaph made of Indiana limestone and metal. As a fun fact, the limestone came from the same quarry as downtown Indy's Soldier's and Sailors Monument. The front of the monument is an allegory for peace represented by a woman. As another fun fact, the model for Peace was a Chicago resident named Margaret McMasters Van Slyke, who'd once been called "the best and most perfectly formed woman." The cenotaph used to house a fountain, though the fountain is no longer in place. There's a metal tablet installed on the cenotaph. As yet another fun fact, the metal came from the USS Maine. There are two urns in front of the cenotaph designed for plantings. In 2014, Boy Scout Troop 70 and Elks Lodge 993 embarked on a project to develop a directory of the names listed on the Veterans Wall of Honor. While the cenotaph is a general war memorial, it emphasizes the importance of peace and the role of women. The memorial was designed to specifically memorialize the Civil War, Spanish-American War, Mexican-American War, and the Revolutionary War. There's a small plaza directly adjacent to the memorial with a tastefully created picnic table that allows you to simply sit there and really take it all in. It's quite beautiful and the memorial has had some renovation and updating done over the past few years. Owned by Adams County Commissioners, the Peace Monument was sculpted by Charles Mulligan and carved by Charles Dodd. This is definitely worth a visit and with Berne, Indiana nearby it's a terrific day trip.