In 2006, archaeologists discovered a slave cemetery at the site of a new subdivision on the former Ingleside plantation, which once adjoined The Hermitage. The cemetery likely held the remains of enslaved people from Ingleside and the adjacent Cleveland Hall plantation, both owned by nephews of Rachel Jackson. Anthropologists at Middle Tennessee State University studied human remains from sixty excavated burials, including men, women, and children ranging from just over a year old to more than 45 years old. Buried in family groups, they showed evidence of disease, malnutrition, arthritis, and inflicted injuries that testified to the hardship of their lives and the cruelty of slavery. The Hermitage became the final resting place for these individuals because of their history with Rachel Jackson's family, and Our Peace was created as a memorial to them and as a place to reflect on slavery's continuing legacy. Designed by Aaron Lee Benson, the work uses Polaris and Ursa Minor, the Little Dipper, to symbolize both the navigation of enslaved people toward freedom and a broader human search for peace, unity, remembrance, and renewed faith in one another.