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The Madonna of the Trail monument is one of 12 statues erected by the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution to mark the pathway of the Old National Road (Cumberland Trail). The monument is a pioneer mother with a child clinging to her skirt and another cradled in her arms. The Madonna of the Trail stands at the southwest corner of the Vandalia Statehouse grounds, marking the end of the Cumberland Road.
In each of the 12 states through which the Old National Road runs, the NSDAR placed a Madonna monument at sites of historical importance. The Madonna is 18 feet high and is made of pink Algonite stone. August Leimbach sculpted the Madonna upon the request of Mrs. John Trigg Moss, a national officer of the NSDAR. Mrs. Moss and her son, John Trigg Moss Jr., collaborated on the design of the monument.
Two engravings appear on the base of the monument. On the right: "The Cumberland Road, built by the federal government, was authorized by Congress and approved by Thomas Jefferson in 1806. Vandalia marks the western terminus ." On the left side of the statue reads: "At Vandalia, Abraham Lincoln, member of the Illinois Legislature, first formulated those high principles of freedom and justice which gave the slaves a liberator, the Union a Saviour." The Madonna of the Trail in Vandalia was dedicated on October 26, 1928, before a crowd of about 10,000 people. It was rededicated by the NSDAR in September 1990 after a restoration of the statue.
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