1928, A. L. Leinbach. East side of National Rd. immediately south of Wheeling Park
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(West Virginia Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division) -
(West Virginia Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)
This somewhat saccharine statue shows a woman cradling a baby in one arm and clutching a musket with her other hand, while a child clings to her skirt. As the inscription on the stone base attests, it is a memorial “To the Pioneer Mothers of the Covered Wagon Days.” It is also one of twelve identical statues that the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the National Old Trails Road Association erected in states across the country. The 10-foot-tall figure, of composition stone, was sculpted by A. L. Leinbach, of St. Louis.