Children's Memory Garden

Hi, I’m Canesha Conger—a Tennessee native and cultural ambassador for Nashville Sites. I serve in the Office of External Engagement at Belmont University and coordinate the Fisk-Belmont Social Justice Collaborative. This stop is part of the Nashville Sites walking tour. To explore more stories, take the full tour on NashvilleSites.org.

Now, let’s learn more about the Children’s Memory Garden. This space, with its sculpted benches and elegant curves, is the Children’s Memory Garden. Originally established in 1996, this garden first honored 96 children in Nashville who lost their lives to violence. Since then, additional names have been added each year to memorialize the young lives that were tragically cut short.

In 2016, Andrea Conte—founder of the victim advocacy organization You Have the Power—partnered with Metro Parks and others to reimagine the space. The original garden often flooded, lacked visibility, and was not ADA accessible. Thanks to their efforts, a newly designed, professionally built memorial was completed—offering a permanent and more welcoming place for remembrance.

As part of the renewal, Conte’s organization launched Voices from the Garden, an annual publication sharing photographs and brief biographies of the children memorialized here. The garden is dedicated to Elysia Kathleen Coughlan, Adriane Nicole Dickerson, and Jerimayer Divine Warfield, and honors the memory of all children lost to homicide. Set apart from the busier areas of Centennial Park, it offers a quiet, contemplative space.

At its center stands the memorial’s most powerful feature: an oval-shaped pillar, with twelve plaques on each side. Eleven of those plaques list the names of 207 Nashville children lost to violence. Each name represents a life interrupted—and a family forever changed. Yet this space also offers comfort and healing for grieving families and for the broader community. 

As you leave the Children’s Memory Garden, continue on the walking trail back toward the Parthenon. You’ll pass the playground on your right before crossing over 27th Ave N to reach the sidewalk along the Great Lawn. Turn RIGHT and walk until you reach the Confederate Private Monument on your left. Listen to this stop as you walk.