Designed to serve as the National Memorial to Missing Children, the Hawkshaw Lagoon Missing Children Memorial is located on Pensacola Bay in Pensacola, Florida. The current monument is just the first phase of a larger endeavor, highlighting what it can mean for a different kind of memorial to define a place that would otherwise sit empty.
Creating a National Memorial to Missing Children
Located across from Veterans Memorial Park, the Hawkshaw Lagoon Missing Children Memorial features a pedestrian bridge spanning the lagoon and an observation deck. It is designed to be a place of solace for families and friends of missing children, but also an open classroom for Pensacola’s history and rich nature.
The deck serves as a platform to the bronze memorial sculpture “The Sanctuary” that is both a shelter and a memorial. The arms and hands form a shelter and represent protection. The shelter that the sculpture creates represents a sacred spiritualism related to familial bonds that are universal.
The Hawkshaw Lagoon Missing Children Memorial will eventually be centered around an institute that is dedicated to the study of missing children. The facility will be a research-based entity that will develop models related to missing children and raise public awareness of the issues.
Many supporters helped to make the Hawkshaw Lagoon Memorial a reality, highlighting what it can mean for a memorial to come to life and create a community. In doing so, it showcases what it can look like for a memorial to transform a space but also create and develop opportunities that benefit stakeholders and entire communities.
A Vision for Engagement and Expansion
Pensacola Bay features endless stretches of beautiful landscape that the Hawkshaw Lagoon Missing Children Memorial has been able to utilize in an especially beneficial manner. It’s a different type of memorial that encourages audience engagement in the present as well as an expansion that will benefit the community in the future. Doing so should enable it to become a tourist draw for the entire city to create countless other benefits.
