Harold's Ogunquit barn sign

Harold Lauder's Ogunquit barn sign is a large painted message on the roof of Moses Richardson's barn in Ogunquit, Maine, created on July 1, 1990, to inform any survivors passing through that he and Frances Goldsmith had departed for the Stovington Plague Center in Vermont, providing detailed route directions and their departure date. The sign becomes a crucial navigational beacon for Larry Underwood's party, who follow its instructions across the country, and it embodies Harold's desperate bid for significance and connection in the decimated world, as well as his unrequited love for Frannie.

Creation and Content

The sign was painted on the faded green shingles of Moses Richardson's barn roof, its fresh white paint standing out sharply against the old surface. Harold, clad only in a tight blue bathing suit, climbed to the cupola and worked his way down the steep roof, dangling his feet over the rain gutter to paint the final line. The message read: "HAVE GONE TO STOVINGTON, VT. PLAGUE CENTER / US 1 TO WELLS / INTERSTATE 95 TO PORTLAND / US 302 TO BARRE / INTERSTATE 89 TO STOVINGTON / LEAVING OGUNQUIT JULY 2, 1990 / HAROLD EMERY LAUDER / FRANCES GOLDSMITH." Frannie, who had been napping under an elm tree while he worked, was unaware of the risk he took to include her name. The sign was a practical guide for any survivors who might follow, but it also served as a public declaration of their partnership, a team, as Harold put it, though Frannie had not consented to the pairing.

Narrative Function as a Beacon

The sign becomes a pivotal landmark for Larry Underwood, Nadine Cross, and Leo Rockway. After crossing the Lincoln Tunnel and making their way through New England, they arrive in Ogunquit and discover the barn roof message. Larry, who had been following a trail of Harold's discarded Payday candy bar wrappers and clever improvisations across the country, recognizes the sign as the culmination of his journey. The directions lead them to Stovington, where they find a second sign from Harold indicating the party had moved on to Nebraska, and eventually to Mother Abagail's house in Hemingford Home. The sign thus functions as a chain of communication in the silent, depopulated world, a testament to Harold's foresight and organizational skill, even as his personal motives become increasingly suspect.

Symbolic Significance and Harold's Character

The barn sign encapsulates Harold's complex psychology. It is an act of desperate hope and a bid for significance, a way to leave his mark on a world that had largely ignored him. The inclusion of Frannie's name, carved into a beam in the barn's loft inside a heart with an arrow, reveals his unrequited love and his fantasy of a shared destiny. Larry Underwood, who develops a near-mythic respect for Harold based on these signs and the trail of candy wrappers, later reflects on the sign's meaning, noting the courage it took to paint the final line while hanging over the edge. The sign also foreshadows Harold's later betrayal; the same meticulous planning that created the sign would later be turned to destruction. When Larry finally meets Harold in Boulder, he brings a bottle of Bordeaux and a Payday candy bar as a tribute, but the encounter is shadowed by the boy's unsettling, fixed grin and the dark secrets hidden in his house. The sign, once a symbol of hope and connection, becomes a relic of a lost innocence, a marker on a road that led to tragedy.