Spoon River Drive 
Come Join Us On The Spoon River Drive! The Spoon River Drive held the first two full weekends in the month of October. There are over one hundred miles of scenic routes on the Spoon River Valley Scenic Drive to be enjoyed. Please drive carefully, buckle-up, lookout foot traffic and be prepare to stop.
http://www.spoonriverdrive.org/
http://home.grics.net/scenicdrive/
The Master's family moved to Lewistown from Petersburg (near Springfield, Illinois) in 1880 when Edgar Lee was eleven and pruchased this house in 1883. (The house is today a private residence. Note the original Masters footstone to the right of the front door.) Edgar Lee graduated from Lewistown High School in 1886. He participated locally in debating, oratory and theatre; worked in a news office; and studied law with his father. He left Lewistown for Chicago in 1891, and became a law partner of criminal lawyer Clarence Darrow. Although he published over 50 books, Masters' only great literary success was The Spoon River Anthology, which appeared in 1915. Masters died in 1950 and is buried in Petersburg.
Edgar Lee Masters' Major Works
http://www.accd.edu/sac/english/bailey/masters.htm
Edgar Lee Masters - poems (PDF) http://www.poemhunter.com/i/ebooks/pdf/edgar_lee_masters_2004_9.pdf
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/15534
Spoon River Anthology (English) http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1280
Toward the Gulf (English) http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/7845
Oak Hill Cemetery
The Oak Hill Cemetery is an actual cemetery that has served the town of Lewistown for 150 years. Of the many who rest in this tranquil setting, you will find many (244 local voices) of Edgar Lee Masters characters, veterans of wars, and a rich history of people with their own stories. The Map of Oak Hill displays markers of sites in which the actual people were buried that the characters in the Spoon River Anthology were written from.
Oak Hill Cemetery http://www.outfitters.com/illinois/fulton/oakhill.html
Nathan Beadles was an early settler of Fulton County, arriving from Kentucky about 1830. He and his two wives are buried in this fenced plot. Nathan's sister Mary and her husband William Randall are also buried here. Nathan was the basis for Masters' poem "Nicholas Bindle" in the Spoon River Anthology. Read Nathan's biography.
http://savvytraveler.publicradio.org/show/features/2000/20001103/spoon.shtml