Road Trip:
Madonnas of the Trail
Nearly 100 years ago, the National Society placed 12 statues honoring the pioneer women of America across the continental United States.
Add them to your next travel itinerary.
By Sharon McDonnell
Madonna of the Trail in Beallsville, Pennsylvania. Video courtesy of Rebecca Braun.
It’s an eye-catching statue: A woman wearing a bonnet and sturdy laced boots cradles a baby in her left arm and holds a rifle in her right hand, a determined look on her face, while a small child clings to her long skirt. The 10-foot, 5-ton statue atop a 6-foot base is one of 12 identical monuments in 12 states spanning the continental United States that honor the courage, determination, faith, and resilience of the pioneer women who raised families, faced hardships of all kinds, and stepped boldly into unknown territory to settle the West. In the years 1928 and 1929, DAR chapters dedicated these “Madonnas of the Trail” along historic pioneer trails from Maryland to California.
Participants gather at the Washington County, Pennsylvania, Madonna of the Trail dedication on December 8, 1928. Honored guests included NSDAR President General Grace Brousseau (center) holding the large bouquet. Photo courtesy of NSDAR.
Most of the Madonna statues are in small towns of just a few thousand residents. But some are in cities, such as Bethesda, Maryland, home to the easternmost statue, and Albuquerque, New Mexico’s largest city. The westernmost statue is in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area. Each is engraved “Madonna of the Trail” and “To the Pioneer Mothers of the Covered Wagon Days” and features the DAR Insignia and text alluding to a local historic event.
The idea to mark trails with statues was spearheaded in 1924 by Arline B. Nichols Moss of St. Louis, national chair of the DAR’s National Old Trails Road Committee, and a former Missouri DAR state regent and vice president general. Her inspiration: the statue of Sacajawea in Portland, Oregon, a 7-foot bronze statue of Lewis and Clark’s Native American guide carrying her baby on her back that had been unveiled in 1905.
August Leimbach, a German-born sculptor in the St. Louis area, was hired to design the statue based on sketches by Moss and her son. He carved the statues from algonite, a mixture of Missouri granite, cement, and crushed marble, and poured all from the same mold. Each statue cost $1,000, and the total $12,000 cost was paid by DAR members nationwide, assessed 10 cents each. The expense of transporting the statues from St. Louis and erecting them was borne by the National Old Trails Road Association, a group founded in Kansas City in 1912 to promote and build a national highway connecting Maryland with California by linking historic pioneer trails such as the Santa Fe Trail and Cumberland Road.
But the idea was born long before that. In 1909, a group of Missouri DAR members had launched an effort to locate and mark the Santa Fe Trail, inspired by the Kansas Society’s placement of 96 red granite markers on that trail in 1906 and 1907. The National Society joined the effort in 1911 by establishing the National Old Trails Road Committee. Its first national chair, Elizabeth Gentry of Missouri DAR, proposed marking the trails with over 5,000 DAR signs, a plan Moss later deemed too expensive. World War I derailed efforts for several years, but plans resumed afterward. Future U.S. President Harry S. Truman, then a judge in Independence, Missouri, became the second president of the National Old Trails Road Association in 1926 and spoke at most statue dedications.
Moss described the Madonnas as “… the autograph of a nation, written across the face of a continent.” Inscribed on the pedestal of each statue are the following lines:
“Into the primitive west,
Face upflung toward the sun.
Bravely she came,
Her children beside her,
Here she made them a home,
Beautiful pioneer mother!”
For a special DAR road trip, whether on one adventure coast to coast or split up into different outings, consider visiting each of the Madonnas. We’ve rounded up tips for what to see and do in the 12 towns and cities that are home to this special chapter in the National Society’s history.
"Into the primitive west,
Face upflung toward the sun.
Bravely she came,
Her children beside her,
Here she made them a home,
Beautiful pioneer mother!"
DAR National Committee Chairman Arline B. Nichols Moss worked with her son, John Moss Jr., an artist and architect, to develop designs for the Madonna of the Trail monument. Arline Moss and sculptor August Leimbach are pictured here circa 1928 putting the finishing touches on one of the Madonnas. Photo courtesy of NSDAR.
1. Bethesda, Maryland
Dedicated April 19, 1929
The statue: The Madonna statue marking the eastern end of the National Old Trails Road is in the heart of downtown Bethesda, on Wisconsin Avenue between the Hyatt Regency hotel and a former U.S. Post Office building. The location marks the “first military road in America,” which started at Rock Creek and the Potomac River in Georgetown, Maryland, per the inscription on one side of the statue. This is the only Madonna statue to face east.
While you’re in town: Today, Bethesda is a city of 69,000 near Washington, D.C., with a world-class arts scene, walkable downtown, and global dining, easily reached by the Metro’s Red Line. But it began as a humble dirt road through woods used by Native Americans and English settlers until a stone tavern built in the mid-1700s became its first commercial business (and the nucleus of downtown). A Bethesda highlight is Strathmore, a cultural center offering concerts in both an elegant Georgian-style 1902 mansion and a modern hall with almost 2,000 seats (a second home to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra). Strathmore also offers art shows, dance troupes, and afternoon tea.
— Sharon McDonnell
2. Beallsville, Pennsylvania
Dedicated December 8, 1928
The statue: Still in its original location, this Madonna statue is located on U.S. Route 40 across from Nemacolin Country Club, which donated the land for the site after a state art commission refused to approve locating it on the Washington County courthouse lawn. The statue was rededicated in 1978 and again in 1990.
While you’re in town: Explore the 40-acre Beallsville Historic District, which showcases a “typical pike town” along the National Road. Pike towns were typically located about a day’s worth of travel apart by wagon. In the historic district, you’ll find a wide range of architectural styles, including Greek Revival, Federal, Italianate, and Queen Anne. The oldest building is a 1788 log structure that was once the residence of town founder Zephaniah Beall. Nearby Nemacolin Castle was built in 1789 and is now operated by the Brownsville Historical Society, which conducts tours and other events.
—DAR Magazine Committee
3. Wheeling, West Virginia
Dedicated July 7, 1928
The statue: The Madonna statue is located on U.S. Route 40 south of the entrance to Wheeling Park, which features paddle boats, a 1920s golf course and playground, and a rock garden. Wheeling—population 26,000—is tucked in northernmost West Virginia, just east of the Ohio border. Its strategic location on the Ohio River offered direct access to trade and made it the initial westernmost terminal of the National Road, the nation’s first federally funded interstate highway. Later, the city boomed as it became the western terminus of the B&O Railroad in 1851. Wheeling became known for its iron mills, which made millions of nails in the 19th century, and its glass-making industry, which supplied the world.
While you’re in town: Completed in 1849, the Wheeling Suspension Bridge over the Ohio River was the world’s longest suspension span bridge at the time and the first bridge to cross the Ohio River. At the Oglebay Institute Glass Museum, you can learn about Wheeling’s famous glass-making industry and view more than 4,000 pieces of historic glass, including the 5-foot-tall Sweeney Punch Bowl.
—Sharon McDonnell
4. Springfield, Ohio
Dedicated July 4, 1928
The statue: The Springfield Madonna statue is perhaps the most moved of all the statues. First located on the grounds of the Ohio Masonic home, the statue was moved a quarter-mile west in the mid-1950s to accommodate a highway interchange before finding its current home at National Road Commons Park in 2011.
While you’re in town: Don’t miss the Westcott House designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Designed in 1906 and built in 1908 for a prominent manufacturing family, the home was converted into an apartment building in the early 1940s, which meant it no longer reflected Wright’s original design. This meant that for many years, Westcott wasn’t on the map as an example of Wright architecture, but the home has been rediscovered as the only example of Wright’s Prairie-style architecture in Ohio thanks to the efforts of the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy and the Westcott House Foundation.
—DAR Magazine Committee
5. Richmond, Indiana
Dedicated October 28, 1928
The statue: In this small city 70 miles east of Indianapolis, known for early music and inventions, the Madonna statue stands at the entrance of Glen Miller Park. Called the “cradle of recorded jazz,” Richmond is the home of inventions from the cooking stove to the lawnmower and an early movie projector. Some of the earliest jazz records by greats such as Hoagy Carmichael, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington were recorded during the 1920s in Richmond at the Gennett Records studio.
While you’re in town: “Richmond has an industrial history forgotten by many of its residents,” notes Chris Oler, a Richmond native and the author of the children’s travel book series, Molly and the Magic Suitcase. “In the 1930s, if you mowed your yard or garden anywhere in the world, there was a 3-in-4 chance the mower was manufactured there.” The city’s industrial and pioneer heritage are on display at the Wayne County Historical Museum, where you will see an authentic Conestoga wagon, the county’s first log cabin schoolhouse, and a Gennett studio replica. The museum also displays a 3,000-year-old male Egyptian mummy.
—Sharon McDonnell
6. Vandalia, Illinois
Dedicated October 26, 1928
The statue: This Madonna statue is located on the grounds of the Vandalia State House at the terminus of the National Road where construction stopped in 1839 when funding ran out. (The National Road was initially supposed to end at St. Louis.)
While you’re in town: The Vandalia State House served as the fourth Illinois statehouse from 1836 to 1839 and is the oldest surviving Capitol building in the state of Illinois. Abraham Lincoln served in the House of Representatives there. The National Road Interpretive Center nearby is worth a visit given the National Road’s close association with the National Society’s Madonnas of the Trail project.
—DAR Magazine Committee
7. Lexington, Missouri
Dedicated September 17, 1928
The statue: Lexington, population 4,550 and an hour east of Kansas City, is home to the Madonna statue and served as a major hub on the Santa Fe Trail, which spanned 900 miles from Missouri to Mexico. You’ll find the statue on the northwest corner of Commerce Street and Highland Avenue, just steps from the Missouri River.
While you’re in town: The statue is a five-minute walk from the Lexington Historical Museum, which houses Pony Express artifacts, and the 1847 courthouse, the oldest functioning courthouse west of the Mississippi River, where a Civil War cannonball is still lodged in a column. Visitors can take audio tours of this small town’s four National Historic Districts and admire stunning antebellum Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Italianate, and Queen Anne homes and churches in the Old Neighborhoods district. The nearby Battle of Lexington State Historic Site commemorates an 1861 Civil War battle, where the 1853 mansion of a wealthy hemp manufacturer served as a hospital and focal point of the fighting.
—Sharon McDonnell
Council Grove Madonna of the Trail statue with Abilene Chapter NSDAR members Julie Roller Weeks (left), the late Jane Foltz (center), and the late Stephanie Dee Marshall, Abilene Chapter NSDAR Regent (right). Photo by Julie Roller Weeks
8. Council Grove, Kansas
Dedicated September 7, 1928
The statue: A parade of historic Santa Fe Trail figures and contests for long whiskers and cute babies marked the dedication of the Council Grove Madonna statue. This tiny town, population 2,265 and about an hour from Abilene, was named after the 1825 council in which federal officials and Osage Indian chiefs established the right-of-way for the Santa Fe Trail. One of the statue’s inscriptions alludes to this historic meeting; the other honors the town’s founder, Seth Hays. An 8-foot bronze statue of a Kaw Native American warrior, Guardian of the Grove, stands directly across from the Madonna statue. “The two monuments face one another, creating a powerful representation of the cultures that met during westward expansion,” says Zoey Wadick, communications director of Destination Council Grove.
While you’re in town: Hays House, founded in 1857 and called the oldest continuously operating restaurant west of the Mississippi River, is just two blocks away from the statue. The Seth Hays Home, built a decade later, is where the never-married settler lived with his adopted daughter and ex-slave, who stayed on as his servant after Kansas joined the Union as a free state in 1861.
—Sharon McDonnell
9. Lamar, Colorado
Dedicated September 24, 1928
The statue: In Lamar, population 8,000, located in the High Plains of southeastern Colorado, the Madonna statue is outside the Colorado Welcome Center in the town’s former railroad depot. It’s a fitting location: Lamar evolved as a railroad town at the end of the Santa Fe Trail era, organized by the Santa Fe Railway as a railhead for shipping cattle after its founding in 1886 because the National and Goodnight cattle trails also traversed the area.
While you’re in town: Big Timbers Museum, one mile north of downtown, showcases items connected to Mary Sullivan Cain, a local pioneer woman who was chosen as the honorary “Pioneer Mother” at the Madonna’s unveiling. Cain was born in Ireland in 1860, came to the area in 1872 with her family, and homesteaded nearby at Butte. The Colorado State Society DAR placed granite markers along Colorado’s portion of the Santa Fe Trail starting in 1906 to identify stage stops, watering holes, and wagon ruts, and one of these markers was relocated to the museum in 2018.
—Sharon McDonnell
10. Albuquerque, New Mexico
Dedicated September 27, 1928
The statue: In this city of 560,000, you’ll find the Madonna statue downtown in McClellan Park on the federal courthouse grounds, a five-minute walk to Route 66 or a 10-minute drive to Old Town, the city’s first neighborhood, which was founded in 1706 and preserves Albuquerque’s Spanish colonial history. This year marks the 100th anniversary of Route 66, which links Chicago to Santa Monica, California, and Albuquerque boasts the longest continuous stretch (18 miles) of the famous road immortalized in the song “Get Your Kicks on Route 66.”
While you’re in town: Remember other female pioneers by visiting the Albuquerque Museum, where a historical marker honors the 17 women who came with the original Spanish families to establish Albuquerque. The Elena Gallegos Open Space is named for the daughter of early 17th-century Hispanic colonists who became a rancher and businesswoman after her husband’s death in 1711 and acquired her own livestock brand. She also acquired about 70,000 acres that became the Elena Gallegos Land Grant, part of which is preserved as open space.
—Sharon McDonnell
11. Springerville, Arizona
Dedicated September 29, 1928
The statue: In this northeast Arizona town of about 1,700 in the valley of the White Mountains, the engraving on the Madonna statue honors the first major European exploration of America’s Southwest by Spain’s Francisco Coronado with these words: “Coronado passed here in 1540 – he came to seek gold but found fame.”
While you’re in town: The Springerville Heritage Center features an exhibit on the statue, including photographs from its unveiling, plus local history of the town that grew around Henry Springer’s late 1800s trading post. The ruins of a 13th-century Native American pueblo site at Casa Malpais Archeological Park & Museum and Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, where you can hike, camp, bike and fish year-round, are also here, while the Petrified Forest and Sunrise Ski Resort are nearby. “Northeast Arizona is beautiful, not a bit of desert in sight. We also have the largest population of Ponderosa Pines in the world,” says Shirley Jaffe, Rim Country Chapter Regent and Arizona State Chair of the Madonna of the Trail Monument Committee.
—Sharon McDonnell
12. Upland, California
Dedicated February 1, 1929
The statue: The westernmost Madonna statue is located in the 1100 block of North Euclid Avenue in Upland in San Bernardino County. The Albuquerque and Upland Madonnas are the only Madonnas along Route 66. California’s Madonna of the Trail has been restored multiple times after suffering damage from a falling tree in 1957 and an earthquake in 1991.
While you’re in town: While Southern California is jam-packed with tourist attractions, it would be a shame to miss the architecture and history preserved along Route 66. The California Historic Route 66 Association website offers a handy guide to examples of mid-century architecture and culture, including classic old-style McDonald’s golden arches and kitschy roadside motels.
—DAR Magazine Committee P
100th Anniversary Madonnas of the Trail Collectors Items
In recognition of the upcoming 100th anniversary of the Madonnas of the Trail, the Storage Administration will release three collector's items: a coffee mug that lists the 12 states that are home to the Madonnas, commemorative replica desktop-size statue, and an Insignia pin. Watch for these items in the DAR Store, and look for them at Continental Congress!
Madonna of the Trail Mug
Available November 2026
Madonna of the Trail Sculpture
Available December 2026
Madonna of the Trail Insignia Pin
Available January 2027
NOVEMBER/DECEMber 2026
