Local history buffs will want to climb on board a civil rights-inspired tour starting later this month in Alton.
The Underground Railroad, the system of trails and shelters that escaped slaves used to flee the South before the Civil War, is the subject of two-hour guided tours by the Great Rivers & Routes Tourism Bureau.
The first two-hour shuttle tour is Feb. 29, with 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. trips. Other tours will follow on the last Saturday of the month through June.
The tours will be conducted by history professor and author J.E. Robinson of Alton.
Sites on the tour include two churches that played crucial roles in the underground operation:
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• The Union Baptist Church in Alton, organized in 1836, is one of the oldest black churches in Illinois. The congregation was started by John Anderson, who was the newspaper pressman for abolitionist Elijah P. Lovejoy. In 1837, Lovejoy was killed by a pro-slavery mob.
• New Bethel-Rocky Fork AME Church in Godfrey. According to the National Park Service, the church was one of the first stops, as early as 1816, for slaves escaping Missouri.
Tours begin at the Alton Visitors Center, 200 Piasa St. Tickets are $25 per person. For tickets or information, call 618-465-6676 or 1-800-258-6645, or go to visitalton.com/shuttle.