The Legacy Of Peacemaker - 48" x 24", Acrylic on Fir, The Collection of The Fort Erie Historical Museum

He passes under the Peace Bridge, and leaves in his wake those talking, and as East meets West across a bridge our red road connects our walk, and south to north our blue road connects water to sky, our spirit walk and they are together here meeting, crossing paths and Peacemaker moves into the sky, where it crosses. He leaves and in his passing, tells The West Wind in the good night about today, how the present met his past, he travels North into the Spirit world, and leaves his legacy in his wake with the North Star to guide him.

But as Peacemaker leaves, someone on the bridge looks back to thank him and say good bye beside Raven who guides the young one into learning about that past with an East beginning, to continue the story the way Peace should be continued. And so uniting good words becomes the bridge to Peace, unearthed stone and flint would reconnect us to our past, as it is reflected into our present all the way into the future. The lesson of Peace and up from this Mother unEarthed, were tools of war, buried long ago, now return behind glass. Weapons that were thrown under a White Pine of Peace and carried by the river into the earth deep are brought back up to surface behind glass, to remind us that stories are not myths but truths.

And though those flints were buried long ago, the flints of stone are found again along the Niagara along with those who lived here before and brought back to the ones who live here now, who mourn again the bones who were mourned before, is to tell this story of the Bridge that joins the two ages, and the two places, and two peoples together on one Great Turtle Island, under a Great Tree, which is mounted onto glass, and reflects the North light, the place of spirit, wisdom, winter, our last age and the colour white.

1992-1996 - Legacy of Stone: In the book "Legacy of Stone", the writers and archeologists of this dig in Fort Erie, wonder where all these weapons of flint came from and ponder a business of trade, but it is truly the Legacy of the Peacemaker who buried the flint of Five Nations. Five hundred and forty two years later, these tools of war are dug up and placed behind glass, a reminder of PeaceMaker's teaching, reminding us of PEACE and Unity, at a time when we need to remember his message when he arrived in his Stone Canoe.

LauraLee K. Harris