“Walk With Heroes,” a guided cemetery tour of Underground Railroad conductor grave sites, will be held Saturday, July 11 at 6 p.m. at Diamond Grove Cemetery, 1601 Lincoln Road in Jacksonville. The event, which is free and open to the public, is being held in conjunction with the Journey to Freedom: Illinois’ Underground Railroad exhibit currently on display at the Jacksonville Area Museum at 301 E. State Street.
Historian Chad Boehlke will guide and narrate the tour that will visit the final resting places of many Underground Railroad conductors from Jacksonville, people who helped numerous Freedom Seekers on the road to freedom. Participants should dress for the weather and bring water. In case of inclement weather, the cemetery tour will be rescheduled for the following Saturday, July 18.
The Underground Railroad conductor grave sites to be visited on July 11 in Diamond Grove Cemetery include David Spencer, Elihu Wolcott, Ebenezer Carter, William “Chauncey” Carter, William Kirby, Marc McLean Reed, William Verry, Henry Irving, John Laurie, Thomas Melendy, Joseph O. King, Jonathan B. Turner, George Chambers, David Prince and Michael Huffaker.
There are also Underground Railroad conductors buried in Jacksonville East Cemetery, which is not part of the July 11 tour. Those individuals include Benjamin Henderson and George Washington Price.
Journey to Freedom: Illinois’ Underground Railroad highlights the courageous stories of freedom seekers and the multi-racial conductors who assisted them on the Underground Railroad in Illinois. The exhibit is open to the public at the Jacksonville Area Museum through August 1, 2026 during the museum’s normal hours of operation: 10 am to 4 pm Wednesdays and Saturdays and 1 to 4 pm on Sundays.
Journey to Freedom: Illinois’ Underground Railroad is proudly presented by The Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area, also known as Looking for Lincoln.