- December 16, 2025
Children’s Memorial Garden, which was intended to be a peaceful memorial to children who had died at young ages is turning it something more like a cemetery, according to one of the garden’s proponents, Ed Caroe.
The Children’s Memorial Garden was inspired, in part, by Caroe and Palm Coast Landscape Architect Bill Butler, both of whom have had children die at a young age. The garden was built in 2009, along the Intracoastal Waterway, near Waterfront Park.
"This garden celebrates love and the innocence of children," Butler said on the city’s website. "Its beauty and tranquility helps one to relax and restore their inner peace."
But after a family purchased a stone for a child who was older than 50 when he died, Caroe said the garden’s purpose was not being honored.
“We started Children’s Memorial Garden for children — under 18 (years old),” Caroe said. ... “This is a park, not a cemetery.”
Caroe wants the city to eliminate the birth dates from memorial stones in the garden.
But at a workshop July 12, City Manager Jim Landon became emotional as he expressed his opinion that parents should not be told that they cannot honor their children in the garden — no matter how old the child.
"I find it downright ludicrous — if not downright offensive — the idea that I've got to go to any individual to determine what's going to be on my paver," Landon said.
The issue will be revisited when the city’s Leisure Services Advisory Committee discusses the situation.
