Thank you, friends, for watching and working for North Dakota Today. It was a perfect fall day to talk about Jonathan Haux, my Nice Person of the Week, as well as a Rosary Garden in Williston.

If you haven’t had the good fortune to check out Bonanzaville – run, don’t walk there today. Named after the Bonanza farms that once dotted the Red River Valley, Bonanzaville USA (and Cass County Historical Society, the caretaker of the county’s history) showcases 41 historic buildings to educate, enlighten, and enrich the lives of its visitors. If you go right this very second you can get tickets to their 2024 Paranormal Investigations.

I also said I’d give some additional information on Sarah Haugen’s Rosary Garden. Here it is in Sarah’s words:

The idea for a rosary garden just sort of randomly popped into my head on a long drive several years ago.  It was weird to me because, even though I’ve been a rosary-praying Catholic my entire life, I wasn’t exactly sure what a “rosary garden” was.  It was like a voice was telling me to build it and I had no idea how or why.  When I got home, I began researching rosary gardens and found they were an actual thing and there was actually quite the protocol to building one.  The word rosary comes from the Latin word “rosarium.” meaning rose garden – and later came to mean “a garden of prayers.”   

These gardens can be any size but mine came out quite large since our property produced many large boulders and smaller rocks galore – so my dream was to use large rocks for my rosary beads.  I initially wanted to build the garden myself but my plan included a rock grotto for a life size statue of the Blessed Mother Mary, and since my masonry skills were non-existent, I chose to employ a skilled landscaping company to do all the work.  An actual rosary consists of 59 beads in order to say six Our Fathers and fifty-three Hail Mary’s.  The Apostle’s Creed is said on the crucifix and the Hail Holy Queen is said at the end of these prayers on a depiction of Mother Mary.  So, 59 boulders were needed for the rosary beads, Mary was placed in a stone grotto in the center of the garden with a water feature swirling around her and Jesus hangs on a cross on a building facing the garden.  Two angel statues praying at the “gate” of the rosary garden and twelve trees planted to depict the twelve apostles were also listed requirements. 

The grotto has four separate flower beds surrounding it with flowers of four different colors to represent each of the four different “Mysteries” that are prayed on certain days of the week:  white for the Joyful Mysteries, purple for the Luminous Mysteries, red for the Sorrowful Mysteries and Yellow for the Glorious Mysteries.  There are also rose bushes planted all around the grotto itself in honor of Mary herself.  The garden is even beautiful at night with timers for lights above Mary’s head, rope lighting around the flower beds and flood lights on Jesus on the cross.

Here are some additional photos of the garden (and of Sarah):

I hope you enjoy last week’s North Dakota Today segment, which you can watch by clicking the image below. Have a happy week!