Nauvoo was beautiful! We got there about 11:00 and drove around to get our bearings - Ben was a little disconcerted seeing the building he lived in for his semester at Nauvoo had been torn down and was just an open field.
The temple on the bluff looks out over the flats where most of the saints had built homes. We then drove down there to get our feel for where the saints lived – from the Riverside Mansion, Nauvoo House, and Mansion House where Joseph Smith lived and is buried, to Brigham Young’s home, the 70’s hall, etc. We stopped at the church’s visitor’s center where they were having a dress rehearsal for a play called ‘High Hopes and Riverboats’ - and they let us watch. It was great – I’m sure they audition young people from around the states to come take part – like a mini-mission. I think they enjoyed having an audience for a rehearsal. After that, we grabbed a sandwich at a little restaurant for lunch, then started our tours.
The flats were squared off into one acre lots which were to hold four houses – one on each corner with enough land that each house could have an orchard and a garden. But saints were arriving so quickly that there were as many as 16 houses on one acre. Most of the houses are now gone, but the church has re-built a few on the excavated foundations, trying to restore the homes and buildings to their original plans and furnish them with period pieces.
We popped in to see the Lucy Mack Smith Home, built by Joseph Noble – but she only lived there for about 9 months before moving in with her daughter. Notice the extremely narrow stairs! She eventually with Emma Smith where she stayed until she died at the age of 80.
We went to the Visitors Center for the Community of Christ church sites – formerly known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They have a nice visitors center and gift shop. Since we had 30 minutes before the tour began, we drove the two blocks over to the Smith Family Cemetery. I was surprised at the surge of emotion – mostly gratitude for that first latter-day prophet when I approached the site of his mortal remains. That made my heart very tender for the rest of the tour of homes where he lived and the city he founded. The tour (the only historical site we had to pay for in Nauvoo) began with an overview of their church history, beginning with Joseph Smith of course. It was fairly well done, but needed to have ‘Oh How Lovely Was the Morning’ and ‘Praise to the Man’ for their background music instead of music like ‘Jesu, Joy of Men’s Desiring.’ It was interesting to see their history – although it was very brief. We then walked to the properties owned by them starting with the Nauvoo House which was built to be a hotel and finished by Lewis Bidamon after he married Emma. In fact, she lived in it from soon after Joseph’s death until she died. It is now a hostel. Wouldn’t it be cool to have a family reunion there and sleep in the same room Emma slept in and rocked in her rocking chair each evening looking out the window west over the Mississippi?
Then we walked across the street to the Homestead House which was Joseph & Emma’s first home in Nauvoo – living there until they moved into the Mansion House in 1842. It was near the river – nearer than it was in Joseph’s time, because of a dam built in Keokuk which backed up the water about 15-20 feet. In fact, last year, when a hurricane came through, several people – including the BYU Young Ambassadors came down and helped them build up the river bank with sandbags too keep these structures from flooding. Other LDS church groups came to help empty the sandbags. Our guide spoke very highly of the LDS, it was so gratifying to see that our churches have such a good working relationship. From there, we walked kitty-corner across a corner intersection to the Mansion House which was Joseph’s final home. The hotel wing that was added to accommodate all the prophet’s visitors had been removed, so it was just the original structure.
The tour ended at the Red Brick Store, which was a total re-construction on the site of the original. Even though it was a reconstruction, it was still thrilling to be in the mock-up of the 2nd floor where temple ordinances were given as well as the organization of the Relief Society in 1842. Since it was a re-construction, we were able to sit on the chairs and stand in front of the podium, etc. A much more interactive experience than being in a roped off walkway to just view things.
Feeling a little emotionally drained, we then drove to the other side of the flats to see Scovil Bakery. It was a tiny place that had a backyard summer kitchen – but I would imagine the main building was still unbearably hot in the summer. It was right next door to the Cultural Hall, also known as the Masonic Hall which served as a community and cultural center. They would hold plays, concerts, meetings, funerals, and court sessions. When the saints left Nauvoo, the building sold at a sheriff’s auction for a whopping $4.47. The third floor – (this is one of the few buildings that was still standing, which the church re-purchased and restored) is original to the building. It was thrilling to imagine that we were walking on the actual floorboards of those early church leaders!
This is a view of the temple from those 3rd story windows. It was in this building that we watched a performance later that night of ‘Rendezvous’ a musical play presented by the senior missionaries. It was adorable – especially since the cast was made up of people like Grandma & Grandpa – who probably had little or no performance background.
We drug ourselves up to check into the Hotel Nauvoo and had a buffet dinner and checked in. Our room was pretty cute – two rooms with three double beds overlooking the main street in Nauvoo – one block up from the temple. At 6:30 we drove back down to the Cultural Hall to watch ‘Rendezvous’ and got out in time to see the sun set over the Mississippi. Too bad we couldn’t watch the program ‘Sunset on the Mississippi’ but it’s season didn’t start until Saturday. But the sunset itself was pretty impressive.
We drove to the river on a road that took us by Sara Granger Kimball’s house and watched it set so Jared could take pictures. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at the temple to see the Joseph and Hyrum Smith Memorial which has the two of them on horseback as if they were leaving Nauvoo for the last time on their way to Carthage Jail. It’s placed between the temple and the river. I think Jared got some great shots of it with the last of the daylight in the background. He also got a great shot of the temple while walking back to our hotel.
Worn out, we turned in for the night but Ben & Catherine and I were up early the next morning to attend the first session at the Temple at 8:00. It was cool – starting out in the creation room and progressing through each stage having the appropriate murals on the walls. When we were done, we asked to see the baptismal font which was built to replicate how it was in the original temple. The main floor had an assembly room, also built to look like the one in the original temple. They had some artifacts framed in the downstairs hallway – like Mary Fielding Smith’s temple apron and slippers and some keys that fit into the original temple doors.
After checking out of the hotel, we made our way down to the flats again and began this day’s tours by going to the Sarah Granger Kimball Home where the young well to do wife took her maid, Sister Cook’s idea of buying material for the maid to sew shirts for the men working at the temple to heart. It was from that idea that she approached Eliza R. Snow about organizing a women’s group and Eliza wrote up the by-laws. When presented to Joseph Smith he said they were good, in fact the best he had ever seen, but that the Lord had something else for them in mind. The women were to be organized under the Priesthood after the order of the priesthood and thus we have the birth of the Relief Society. It’s a tribute to Sarah Granger Kimball that she remained active in the organization, even though it was Emma Smith called to be it’s president and not her.
Now on to the Print Shop, a re-construction of the building where the Times and Seasons and the Nauvoo Neighbor were printed. They had a demonstration of what it took to print a newspaper in those days – it’s a wonder that so many got printed! Next to the Print Shop was John Taylor’s Home – he served as editor to the papers, so that would be convenient for him. They had the rocking horse that belonged to his son John, the toy that John Taylor went back to retrieve amidst dangerous conditions after seeing how distraught his son was to have left it behind. Next to the Print Shop was the Post Office which shared space with the Merryweather Dry Goods store. They had examples of what the mail looked like, and how letters were written to conserve space and utilize the most of one sheet of paper to be the least expensive to send.
We walked up the road a little to see the Pendleton School – a tiny little room tacked on the back of the Pendleton home. They had replicas of the slates used by each student back then, and I was surprised at how heavy those slates were! Up the road a little further was the Brickyard where a missionary explained how bricks were made (there were senior missionaries in each of these sites to explain things and bare their testimonies). We got our own little imprinted brick to take home as a souvenir.
We walked back to the car and drove a couple of streets to the Seventies Hall, which was also a re-construction, meaning that we could sit on the pews and stand at the pulpit. This was the place where the Seventies were taught gospel principles and missionary skills in order to carry the gospel to every state in the Union, to the Indians, Canada, Europe, Palestine, and the Pacific Isles. It was also used for worship, lectures, a school, a library, and a museum. After the saints left, the hall was sold to the Presbyterians and also used by the Catholics and finally as a school, eventually being torn down. Upstairs they have an alphabetized list of all the Seventies who lived in Nauvoo – including your ancestors, Abraham Hunsaker and Curtis Bolton. In fact, the sister missionary that led us on the tour was also a descendant from Abraham Hunsaker – by his second wife Harriet Beckstead – just like us! Small world!
We then went to the Brigham Young Home which was built on land bought by his wife while he was on his mission. She built a log cabin and moved into it before it was finished. When Brigham returned, he finished the cabin and then built the original home.
By this time, it was about 11:00 and we wanted to get to Carthage to look around before getting Ben & Catherine to Springfield to meet up with their friends for the Mormon History Association Conference. Carthage Jail’s setting was beautiful – made so by the church. We started out with a film in the visitors center then went into the jail. I didn’t know that the jailer lived at the jail with his family – seven kids I think! On the main floor, besides the kitchen (where the wife cooked for the inmates) and the parlor, they had a ‘debtor’s prison’ room which was just a room where the door was iron bars. I guess for the non-violent criminals. Upstairs was the ‘dungeon’ where there were no windows – only slots for openings – like you see in castles where they can shoot out arrows. Most of the room was caged off and they had some straw in the corner covered with bedding – it was a dark and dreary room.
Evidently the jailor and his family trusted Joseph & Hyrum (the only inmates) and their guests. The room where Joseph and Hyrum were martyred was the jailer and his wife’s bedroom. The jailor must not have had any knowledge about the mob coming, because the jailor had left for the day, leaving the inmates with his wife who had two kids with her when the mob attacked. Joseph had as many as 7 people with him throughout his stay, but at the time of the mob, only John Taylor and Willard Richard was with him and Hyrum. They had the original parts of the door that had the bullet mark from where Hyrum was shot in the head while holding the door shut against the invaders. The door jam was also busted out. It had been replaced for use after the martyrdom, but the pieces were found and put back for the museum. We were able to sit in that bedroom and listen to the narrator (senior missionary), and look out the window from where Joseph fell after being shot. I guess after Joseph fell out the window, the mob ran outside leaving Willard Richards to drag the wounded John Taylor into the dungeon room where they hoped to hide in case the mob returned. We went outside and saw where they propped Joseph up against the well, and thought about how it was a miracle his body was left so intact – it wouldn’t have been, had the mob not been scared away by something – they thought they heard someone yell, “The Mormon’s are coming!” Anyway, for whatever reason, they dispersed leaving the bodies to be claimed by Mormons and returned to Nauvoo intact.
Some of the quotes on various stone monuments around the jail read, “I never feel to force my doctrine upon any persons; I rejoice to see prejudice give way to truth, and the traditions of men dispersed by the pure principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
And my favorite, the one that I felt especially apropos to this site: “When a man has offered in sacrifice all that he has for the truth’s sake, not even withholding his life, and believing before God that he has been called to make this sacrifice because he seeks to do his will, he does know, most assuredly, that God does and will accept his sacrifice and offering, and that he has not, nor will not seek his face in vain.”
