Road Rally drove into Sycamore's past

SYCAMORE - Do you know the downtown location of one of the first log cabins in Sycamore? Could you trace a route to the original South School? You probably pass the original train depot on a regular basis, but were you aware it was ever a depot? Did you know there is a house at the corner of High and Main streets that was part of the Underground Railroad? Could you uncover locations in Sycamore that memorialize Letitia Westgate, William McCallister or Vernon R. Wetzel? The Sycamore Historical Society and Museum challenged 10 teams to answer these questions as part of its first Road Rally held July 13. The evening began with a pizza party at the Sycamore Park District Golf Course clubhouse. Once the teams were energized, they embarked on their voyage with 200 initial points. Wrong answers to locations or extra miles or time over the base resulted in point deductions. The team with the highest point total won. Every three minutes, a team ventured into Sycamore armed with a city map and an inventory of clues to unknown destinations within the city. Twenty-seven minutes later, one minute under the base time, the winning team of Rich and Jackie Schmack, Gary Sale and Cheryl Maness returned with all clues correctly decoded. The second-place team of Paul and Marilyn Stromborg, Jim and Bonnie Ward plus John and Betsy Ward also sailed through the historical challenges. Most teams reported the challenges were too easy and the trip through history was too short. All teams recognized the battle of Antietam is misspelled on the Civil War memorial on the DeKalb County Courthouse lawn. Trophies were awarded to the first- and second-place teams, with additional prizes donated by Sycamore Theatre, Sycamore Speedway, Culver's and the Midwest Museum of Natural History.