The Garden of Eden has been found?

Brian McDonald
In this passage from Landscapes of the Sacred it speaks of a location along the Mississippi river in Galesville Wisconsin that the 19th century Methodist preacher Rev. D.O. Van Slyke said represented the Garden of Eden. Van Slyke uses readings form the Bible to explain how he believes that this landscape is the closest thing to the Garden of Eden that has ever been seen.

While many in the small town adjacent to this “sacred” landscape revered to their area as the Garden of Eden, everyone knew very little about the Reverend that actually argued, and created this vision of Eden in Wisconsin. So is this stretch of land along the mighty Mississippi really a world of its own. Did Van Slyke truly find the land where Adam and Eve began human creation? While Van Slyke may truly have found his own sacred place, it seems a stretch to name is landscape the Garden of Eden. His interest could have been clouded by the sense of wanting to present the center of existence in the heart of the still young America. Slyke was also at this point in his life angered by heathens in Wisconsin, disillusioned from the civil war, and seeking peace. I am not trying to take anything away from Slyke, I am sure he found peace and a sacred landscape in the majestic forests and rivers of the north. I just feel that identifying the exact landscape where Adam and Eve began human existence is something we may never do.


(Landscapes of the Sacred)