A Park for All

A Park for All. Merritt Park. , Merritt Park was an oasis of beauty and solitude for a crowded, confined community. Meandering paths and waterways, bridges, lawns, and flower gardens filled its 15 acres, delighting the senses and lifting the spirits of many who came here. Internee landscape designer Kuichiro Nishi created the park in 1943, together with floriculturist Tak Muto and a crew of internee workers, all employed by the War Relocation Authority. , , Below a waterfall at the pond's west end a large "turtle" rock represented longevity. A gazebo built of locust wood stood on a concrete foundation nearby, and two upright stones marked the park's southern corners. Nishi dedicated his work "To the memory of fellow Japanese immigrants, who although ushered to this place with the breaking of friendly relations between two countries, have come to enjoy this quiet, peaceful place." , , First called Rose Park, then Pleasure Park, it was finally renamed Merritt Park, in honor of Project Director Ralph Merritt. Internees and camp staff alike enjoyed this place and gathered here in friendship. Once cameras were allowed, the park's beauty became a favorite backdrop for photographs of special occasions. , , Over the decades, Merritt Park disappeared under several feet of sand. In 2008, Kuichiro Nishi's children and grandchildren returned to assist National Park Service staff and volunteers in unearthing the park. While the water that flowed through the pond and the plants that once graced the park are gone, these stones remain as a testament to beauty created behind barbed wire. , , "You could face away from the barracks, look past a tiny rapids toward the darkening mountains, and for a while not be a prisoner at all. You could hang suspended in some odd, almost lovely land you could not escape from yet almost didn't want to leave." , -Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston