There are numerous signposts throughout the state like the one in last week’s mystery photo.  However, it is believed that this one, at the corner of Routes 35 and 5, in what is known as Lynchville in Oxford County, is the original. One of our entrants, Nancy Marcotte wrote, “This was published many years ago in BitterSweet magazine (which I edited.) Someone had written to us asking about the sign.”

“The story is that my grandfather, Walter Chute from Harrison (state highway supervisor), had been talking with his distant cousin James Chute in Naples. Jim said, “Too bad we can’t figure out some way to use the famous place names in Maine for publicity.” And grampa calculated where a road sign could lead in all those directions. This was the 1930s, we think. The sign was stolen a few times until, I am told, it was mounted on a tungsten plow blade to keep it rooted in Lynchville.”

The signpost, known as the “World Traveler Signpost,” has been the subject of many postcards and included in numerous travel publications and is a popular tourist attraction. In a random drawing, Wendy Vermette of Sabattus was chosen as the winner of a $10 Subway gift card. She said, “I have been past there many times, but I liked the old one better, it had more character.”