Legends & Lore | Missouri Folk Arts Program

Historic marker titled

Roadside marker for Ste. Genevieve's Weeping Tree

Photographed during daylight, a red and gold sign stands at the forefront of a patch of grass and trees. The sign is red with a gold outline, an emblem at the top of the sign is circular and features a crescent moon with eyes, nose, and a mouth. The crescent moon faces left, looking out at the rest of the emblem which features the sun, another moon, stars, and a shooting star - all of which are smaller details in the sign. The sign reads in CAPITAL letters from top to bottom, left to right: Legends & Lore. Yeater Ghost. Some claim Laura J. Yeater or another spirit haunts this dormitory opened in 1941. Ghostly activity is reported often on the third floor. Missouri Folk Arts Program. William G. Pomeroy Foundation 2021. 92.

If your community shares legends and lore about local myths, tall tales, place names, ballads, or ghost stories, then this is the project for you. For details about how to draft and submit an application, visit https://www.wgpfoundation.org/history/legends-lore/

Established by the William G. Pomeroy Foundation in 2015, the Legends & Lore Historic Marker Grant program helps communities celebrate local folklore and legends with roadside markers.

Missouri Folk Arts Program serves as a partner for the Pomeroy Foundation’s expanding national Legends & Lore Historic Marker Grant Program, helping to put Missouri folklore in the spotlight. “The Pomeroy Foundation is pleased to partner with the Missouri Folk Arts Program on our expanding Legends & Lore program,” says Bill Pomeroy, founder and trustee of the Pomeroy Foundation. “We feel this is a wonderful opportunity to showcase the folklore near and dear to Missouri. We’re proud to work with your communities in celebrating and preserving your folklore and legends.”

As of June 2023, five communities in Missouri host Legends & Lore markers!

Yeater Ghost at University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg

Lost City in Moberly

Weeping Tree at Ste. Genevieve’s Memorial Cemetery

Sadie Brown Cemetery in Pomona

Polly the Parrot in West Plains’ Oak Lawn Cemetery

The Pomeroy Foundation is a private grant-making foundation based in Syracuse, New York. The Foundation helps people celebrate their community’s history through a variety of historic roadside marker programs, including Legends & Lore. The Foundation’s grants cover the entire cost of a marker, pole, and shipping.

Legends & Lore marker grants are available to 501(c)(3) organizations, nonprofit academic institutions, and local, state, and federal government entities in Missouri.