9/11 Garden of Hope in Centennial Park - 25 years later

September 11, 2001 - the surprise attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center towers in NYC killed 2,977 people. The following year the Garden of Hope was created in Centennial Park to remember the attacks and the four Howard County residents who were killed. It is located across from the white outdoor amphitheater at Centennial Park, South off Rt 108.

Howard County's 9/11 remembrance ceremony at the Garden of Hope will begin promptly at 8:46 (when the first tower was struck). Info HERE

Plaque on memorial stone:

Garden of Hope
This garden is dedicated to the memory of all who gave their lives on September 11, 2001.

"Hope, like the gleaming taper's light
Adorns and cheers our way;
And still, as darker grows the night,
Emits a brighter ray."
Oliver Goldsmith [1728-1774]
[1764 poem from his oratorio The Captivity]

Plaque on bench:

In memory -
Master Sgt. Max Beilke [Pentagon]
Sarah Clark [on Flight 77 hit Pentagon]
Col. Ronald F. Golinski [Pentagon]
Lt. J.G. Darin Pontell [Pentagon]


©2026 Patricia Bixler Reber
Forgotten history of Ellicott City & Howard County MD