The road sign in this image was formerly posted in or near Bernadotte, Fulton County. The county's Spoon River Valley Scenic Drive, named for Edgar Lee Masters' 1915 collection of free verse poems, was established in 1975 as a tourist attraction. The sign directed tourists to visit the site of the home of Francis Overton and his daughter, Harriet Overton, both WIUGRR operators. Francis built a cabin near Bernadotte in 1835, where he harbored fugitive slaves and from which he accompanied them along a ravine to another safe space, the Stone Castle. One day an anti-black mob attacked Francis in town. Harriet mounted a horse, and, armed with a lead bar, charged the mob, obtaining her father's release. The Scenic Drive narrative highlighted the Overtons' controversial assistance to fugitive slaves, not community opposition to it.
