This tour joins two themes: faith and freedom. On this tour you can consider the Mormon quest for religious liberty and a place to call their own; you can study the extraordinary act of charity extended by the citizens of Quincy to Mormons who were fleeing Missouri under threat of an order of extermination; and you can visit locations of the Underground Railroad traveled by enslaved African Americans to seek their freedom through their own bravery and with the help of white Americans whose Christian moral compass impelled them to assist these abused people.

Quincy: City of Refuge for the Mormons and fleeing African American slaves CLICK
LODGING: Heritage Hotel of Quincy, 300 Gardner Expressway
FOOD: Chick’s On The River Restaurant, Riverside Smokehouse & Grill, Thyme Square Cafe (for breakfast)

Nauvoo and Carthage: the Mormon settlement CLICK and the site where their prophet, Joseph Smith, was murdered CLICK
LODGING: Hotel Nauvoo Historic Inn, Nauvoo Temple House
FOOD: The Red Front Restaurant, Hotel Nauvoo Historic Inn Restaurant

Jacksonville: Underground Railroad CLICK
LODGING: Holiday Inn Express, Hampton Inn, Sleep Inn, Best Western, Blessings on State Bed & Breakfast
FOOD: The Hangout Bar & Grill, Proud Richard’s Restaurant, Leo’s Pizza, Mullilgan’s

New Philadelphia National Historic Site: town established by a self-emancipated slave CLICK

Alton: Lovejoy, Lincoln, Underground Railroad CLICK
LODGING: Hampton Inn, Beall Mansion B&B, Alton Cracker Factory
FOOD: restaurants on State Street between W. Broadway and Wall Street

NOTE. Part of our “Faith and Freedom Tour” intersects part of the FREEDOM CORRIDOR, which maps or interprets the Underground Railroad running west from Springfield to Quincy, as seen with the stars marking the places on the route’s logo. As originally conceived, the Freedom Corridor runs from Springfield (Central Illinois African American History Museum, Abraham Lincoln Museum), through Jacksonville (particularly Illinois College and the African American History Museum), into Pittsfield (East School Museum) and Barry and New Philadelphia to Quincy and across the Mississippi River to Mark Twain’s Hannibal, Missouri (Huck Finn Freedom Center). The Freedom Corridor was initiated by UIUC Professors Gerald McWorter and Kate Williams as an outgrowth of their remarkable research and community engagement with New Philadelphia. The original Freedom Corridor has now linked to the State of Illinois Underground Railroad Task Force with 429 UGRR sites identified thus far.