Sign Post Forest

<h2 id="origin">Origin</h2>
<p>In 1942, a simple sign post pointing out the distances to various points along the tote road being built was damaged by a <a href="/facts/Bulldozer/4t7HhPD6">bulldozer</a>. Private Carl K. Lindley, serving with the <a href="/facts/United_States_Engineer_Regiments_in_World_War_II/9dFNWzAd">341st Engineers</a>, was ordered to repair the sign, and decided to personalize the job by adding a sign pointing towards his home town, <a href="/facts/Danville%2c_Illinois/LJUGxNhT">Danville, Illinois</a>, and giving the distance to it.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a> Several other people added directions to their home towns, and the idea has been snowballing ever since.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a>
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<h2 id="the-forest-today">The forest today</h2>
<p>The Sign Post Forest takes up a couple of acres, with huge new panels being constantly added, snaking through the trees. There are <a href="/facts/Traffic_sign/yfn9b7Uf">street signs</a>, <a href="/facts/Welcome_sign/6g9Q8s2A">welcome signs</a>, signatures on dinner plates, and <a href="/facts/Vehicle_registration_plate/okvNxmyB">license plates</a> from around the world.
</p><p>In June 2012, the stage in the centre of the forest was the site of an impromptu performance of the play <i>Two Women on a Precipice</i>. The playwright Karin Fazio Littlefield was delayed in attending the <a href="/facts/Last_Frontier_Theatre_Conference/Nt3043Ss">Last Frontier Theatre Conference</a> in <a href="/facts/Valdez%2c_Alaska/dfpbAzPm">Valdez, Alaska</a>, by mudslides on the <a href="/facts/Alaska_Highway/lmAfy37f">Alaska Highway</a>. Littlefield and her fellow actors performed the piece for travellers who were likewise stranded in <a href="/facts/Watson_Lake%2c_Yukon/6Wrn7sfH">Watson Lake</a> by the mudslides.
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<h2 id="gallery">Gallery</h2>

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sign Post Forest.

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>Shandy Watson; Jepson, Tim; Lee, Phil; Tania Smith; Williams, Christian; Rees, Emma L. E. (2004). The Rough Guide to Canada 5 (Rough Guide Travel Guides). London: Rough Guides. p. 1002. ISBN 1-84353-266-2. <a href="1-84353-266-2" target="_blank">1-84353-266-2</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>"Signpost". signpostforest.com. <a href="http://signpostforest.com/" target="_blank">http://signpostforest.com/</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Sign Post Forest open-in-new

Sign Post Forest