File:One of twelve famous Madonna of the Trail statues, this one located along the National Road in Wheeling, West Virginia LCCN2015632017.tif

English: Title: One of twelve famous Madonna of the Trail statues, this one located along the National Road in Wheeling, West Virginia

Physical description: 1 photograph : digital, tiff file, color.

Notes: Purchase; Carol M. Highsmith Photography, Inc.; 2015; (DLC/PP-2015:055).; Credit line: West Virginia Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.; Forms part of: West Virginia Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive.; Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer.; The statues were commissioned by the National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution. They were installed in each of the twelve states along the National Old Trails Road, which extended from Cumberland, Maryland, to Upland, California. (A portion of that route, from Cumberland to Vandalia, Illinois, is the National Road, the nation's first designated federal highway. Created by sculptor August Leimbach and funded by contributions, the Madonna of the Trail monuments were intended to provide a symbol of the courage and faith of the women whose strength and love aided so greatly in conquering the wilderness and establishing permanent homes. Dedicated in 1928 and 1929, the twelve statues became sources of local pride. Harry S. Truman, at that time the president of the National Old Trails Association, was a leading proponent of the monuments.