Montgomery County · Missouri
SLAVE ROCK
The History, Mystery & Legacy of a Missouri Landmark
“Along Interstate 70 in Montgomery County, Missouri, stands a sandstone formation surrounded by generations of local history and legend. Discover the stories, landscape, and enduring questions surrounding Slave Rock.”
Image: a photographic rendering created from a photograph of the landmark.
Montgomery County, Missouri | Also known as Graham Rock
Introduction
A Landmark That Time Has Not Forgotten
Near the small community of Mineola, travelers on Interstate 70 pass a weathered sandstone formation known locally as Slave Rock, and also as Graham Rock — from Dr. Robert Graham, a nineteenth-century slaveholder whose property once included the site.
For generations, local tradition has connected the rock to the sale of enslaved people before the Civil War. That account is part of the region’s oral history — but it has not yet been confirmed by documentary evidence, and this project presents it as tradition, not established fact.
Here you’ll find what is known, what is told, and what remains to be discovered.
Through the Ages
A Timeline in Brief
The Exhibit
Explore the Collection
Authentic photographs of the landmark are being sought. Images above are modern illustrations.