CLEVELAND — There’s a place in Cleveland where you can travel the world without leaving the city. The Cleveland Cultural Gardens — a two-and-a-half-mile stretch along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and East Boulevard — celebrate the heritage of 38 cultures, each with its own green space, statues, and flags.
“Different ethnic communities represented throughout Northeast Ohio, but a lot of them are represented down here,” said Tom Turkaly, Executive Director of the Cultural Gardens.
The idea dates back more than a century. In 1916, Cleveland newspaper editor Leo Weidenthal envisioned the gardens as a way to counter the divisions of World War I. Land was donated by John D. Rockefeller, and each garden has been built and maintained by its own community ever since.
“It shows what each