Monday 4-10 Visiting Nauvoo Illinois

We spent two nights at Nauvoo State Park. It’s a beautiful park located in Nauvoo, Illinois. It has tall pine trees, a small lake, vineyard, visitor center, day area with a playground and grills and there’s a camping area with power and non power sites. We had the park all to ourselves.

Nauvoo State Park

During our stay we visited the City of Nauvoo.

Joseph Smith founded the Mormon church in New York, he and his followers were forced to leave and they found their way to Ohio where once again they were forced to leave and this time they fled to Missouri. Missouri also forced them out and he ended up starting the town of Nauvoo in Illinois. They lived and prospered there from 1839 until 1846. He lived in Nauvoo until he and his brother were both killed while being held in jail. Soon after the Mormon’s were once again forced to move and Brigham Young led them to Utah.

On the first night Larry and I walked around Nauvoo to get familiar with it. We walked for almost two hours. We walked by some of the historic buildings that told the history of Nauvoo. We walked to the visitor center to check on the hours. As we were walking back to the park we walked around the downtown. Nothing was open but it was a very nice. We walked by a few churches and I took pictures of St. Peter and St. Paul Catholic Church and the Mormon Temple. Both churches were right next story to each other. We decided we would return in the morning. We had a great walk. By the time we got back we were exhausted.

                        

       St. Peter and St. Paul Catholic Church                          The Mormon Temple                         

This morning we woke up and took a shower. It was one of the best public showers we have used. To begin with the bathroom was heated, the shower head sprayed excellent, the water temperature was perfect and the bathrooms were clean. After taking a shower I made pancakes for breakfast. The visitor center didn’t open until 10 so we hung out with Flo until it was time to go.
It was about a mile to get there. As we were walking we passed by a wagon being pulled by two Draft Horses. The three men in the wagon waved at us. When we got to the visitor center it had just opened. We talked to a lady working there about what we can do in Nauvoo. She told us we could go for a ride in the wagon drawn by horses, a carriage pulled by oxen, watch a show in the evening and tour the town. Everything is free. Everyone who worked in Nauvoo were Mormon Missionaries who were assigned to Nauvoo for 18 months. We decided to start with the wagon ride. The ride was at 10:30 and you had to be there at 10:20. It was about a half mile away so we had to walk fast to get there. When we got there they were just about ready to leave but they let us come on board. It was a twenty 20 minute tour that took you through Nauvoo and telling the history of the town and the buildings. After our tour we walked around town.  The next stop was the Family Living Center where they talked about how the Saints lived in Nauvoo before they were forced out. There was bread making, rug weaving, candle making, rope making and pot making. We watched each section. It was interesting to learn that the men during that era did the weaving. When they baked bread they used the ashes from the fire to bake it. The rope making area was the most fun to watch because they had the audience make the rope. At the end of the demonstration each family got a piece of rope. Before leaving the living center one of the Elders that we had talked with after the wagon ride came and found us, he gave me a copy of The Book Of Mormon along with his name and phone number, very nice of him. We stopped at the Printing Office, where two newspapers had been published to let people know about what’s going on in town and the church. We stopped at the bakery where we had a ginger molasses cookie. We stopped at The Blacksmith and received a prairie diamond ring and learned the story on how it got its name. We toured Brigham Young’s Home and the Browning Home and Gunsmith Shop. We visited The Tinsmith and the Post Office  We walked around town for a few hours and had a great time learning the history of the town.

Elder Dee Stoker the gentleman that gave me The Book of Mormon

The Family Living Center

Brigham Young Home                                   Printing Office           

The Post Office                                                          The Tinsmith

A Prairie Ring                                               A Handmade Rope  

We got back to Flo about 3:00 and she was one happy dog. In the evening we walked back to town to see a hour long skit about Nauvoo. It was a full house and the missionaries did a great job of explaining the history of Nauvoo. We had a super day in Nauvoo. 

The skit that we saw about Nauvoo