Old Nauvoo

Nauvoo is a peaceful place. I felt so safe while I was there. It is green and had narrow but long streets, lots of small buildings and during the non busy seasons (winter, spring & fall) there are very few souls roaming about.

We stayed with Aunt Peggy & Uncle Ross in an old brick building meant to match the rest of the architect, but in fact it was a new 21 century darling apartment inside. We were cozy, the 5 of us, but we managed and had a lovely visit. 

Lydia loved both of them instantly. She knew Peggy was Grandads Sister and she called Uncle Ross “Da Boy” when she couldn’t think of his name. She loved playing with him &  getting his undivided attention. When we’d be out touring she’d ask to go back to Aunt Peggy’s house.

Yes, they were that fun!  

We packed in as much as we could into our short time span of a day and a half. It was doable because there were no crowds of people. We saw just about every thing there is to see minus a house or two.

Lydia did great! Like I said, we knew it wasn’t the most exciting vacation venture for her, but I tried teaching her things on her level as much as possible and I know she did understand quite a bit. She loved all the Senior missionaries. They are so sweet, they bring the spirit into everything they teach about, such as guns, barrels & even bricks, it is pretty amazing.

I’ll share some info I learned for my journal record. If you’ve been to Nauvoo before by all means don’t read it all. Just skim through quickly and be on your way. If you have never been make sure you put in on your list of places to see in this life time.

We are so grateful this opportunity came to visit this beautiful place, we’ve both wanted to because we love church history…but enough about that, its time for some pictures.

First stop. Family Living Center where we learned how the pioneer lived. We are convinced even more now that these people knew what hard work was and they worked from sun up to sun down. They worked for everything they had. I admire them for this.

We made some rope.

Learned about barrel making. So neat, had never see anything like this. Tyson especially enjoyed the demonstration.

I loved, love, loved the homes! I love to learn about how and where people lived, especially the history. This was John Taylors home. Sooo cool! Not all the artifacts were his, but some were.

For instance, this shaving station was John Taylors. Sorry for the horrible flash reflection.

 

This rocking horse John Taylor made for his son is the real deal and has a neat story attached to it. It made the entire journey to the Salt Lake Valley. It meant a lot to his son, when they almost didn’t take it he was sad for 3 days because it was his favorite possession.

I wouldn’t have thought the Brick House would have been at the top of my list of favorite stops, but it most definitely was. What these people had to do to build up there homes is amazing. One brick took so much effort and they needed hundreds for one small home.

This picture above of these two is my favorite!!!!

This sweet Elder got to me, the spirit was thick while he spoke, why I got so emotional over brick making….my goodness. He was a special worker and knew the right things to say to bring the spirit. Loved it!!!

I admire this woman like crazy. (Joseph’s Smiths mother.) I’ve read her book years ago and I’m reading (listening actually) it again. She didn’t leave Nauvoo with the saints, she was old and had arthritis. She moved in with Emma Smith and died in the mansion house. This was her home, it was small and sweet and had a gorgeous yard!!!

 

We made our way to a picnic area for lunch and then played some pioneer games. I think Tyson and I had just as much fun than Lydia. We would have made great pioneer children! Ha ha.

These sticks and hoop were genius. Tyson went a little wild, almost took out a group of people, luckily he didn’t. The Elder in charge was entertained by us, Tyson even twisted his ankle a bit out in the field, ouch, we were going all out.

Oh my! Cutest pioneer I ever did see!

The Bakery.

 

I taught Lydia about outhouses. Hee hee! Loving that pose.

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Around 2 p.m. we took a wagon ride around Nauvoo. It couldn’t have been more perfect. Lydia fell asleep on Tyson and got a nap in. She woke up right when it was over and had renewed energy. We were then able to tour for 2 more hours until the buildings closed up for the night.

Originally each lot was 1 acre. It got more crowded after a while and that changed. However, they let this prairie grass grow long in one lot to show the dimensions. It grows long enough for children to run and hide inside and then after a few months they burn it. It only takes seconds for it to burn up.

We paid $3 dollars each to the Church of Christ (formerly known as RLDS) and then an elderly man walked us through all of the buildings that they own. They were very cool and I’m so glad we went inside. It lasted about an hour and a half. I was not allowed to take picture of the inside rooms. 

This is the Nauvoo house. Emma Smith died in here in her old age. It was much bigger back this the day. You can rent this space out now and sleep a group for 300 dollars a night.

We took a walk through the tiny cemetery where the Smith family and others are buried. We heard all about how Joseph & Hyrum’s bodies were moved, hidden & moved again. Emma’s was found and dug up….while looking for Josephs. I was confused and don’t know if what he told us was all true. I felt like he knew a different Joseph Smith than the one I feel I know in my heart. If that makes any sense to you at all.

This was Joseph’s first home and then they moved into the Mansion home which also had a hotel attached and rooms to house many people.

   

The Mansion house. Beautiful!

Upstairs in this red brick house Joseph Smith introduced the endowment, the Relief Society was organized and the prophet translated parts of the Pearl of Great price. They also held other meetings in the up stairs room and the downstairs was a store. They kept records of what people bought. Those were neat thumb through. Porter Rockwell shopped there.

Upstairs.

 

When our day tours were through we’d hop in the Ash’s van and they’d take us more places. This is the tunnel down the road. I remembered it from the Joseph Smith movie where Emma and Joseph were falling in love and I believe it was snowing.

We reenacted the kissing scene. It took a few takes. Ha ha.

Every evening the missionaries put on a show called, “Rendevous” it is about the Saint in Nauvoo and some that had to make the decision whether or not to leave. It was full of humor, romance and the spirit. We really enjoyed it. This is Elder & Sister Anderson from Delta, Utah.

 

The next morning Aunt Peggy & Uncle Ross were up and gone by 5:30 a.m. and after we got up and ready to head out our first stop was Brigham Young’s home. He had the biggest brick home out of anyone. I learned more about him than I had known.  He sounded so busy, I doubt he even spent much time at home, but who knows.

I liked this rocker. It has a spot next to it for a Mother to sit while the baby sleeps.

This is a map of all the places that he settled. Amazing!

In this room, just off the kitchen they would hold important meetings with the other apostles.

He had a brick cellar to keep food cool in the heat of the summer and a big shed out back to store his team of horses.

Most homes had a well. Others would just collect rain water and filter that out.

Tyson remembers more about this gun shop than I did. I was entertaining Lydia. Bro. Browning company began here in Nauvoo and is still going. It took hours to make a gun, the process to just make the barrel looked so hard…we were in awe.

I do remember that on the trek west Jonathan Browning stayed in Winter quarters with his wife and 5 kids (in horrible conditions) making guns for everyone. He had already made lots of money and had the offer to go to NY where he’d make even more money but he didn’t. He had millions and was even involved in making weapons used in all the wars and with government officials…..ok, I guess I remember a tad more than I thought.

They had lots of his belongings and a a hat box of his wives. So pretty.

 

This contraption is awesome. It churns butter and a woman could sit next to it and rock it with her foot while she worked on something else. Women must have been multi tasking for years.

This log cabin was so sweet and cozy. I would have wanted to live here. All the beds I saw had rope as the mattress. The tighter it was tied the better it was. They would lower it to the ground for little ones so they wouldn’t fall off. I liked hearing small details like that too.

We headed back to the Family Living center and learned about rug weaving, sewing clothes, bread & candle making. A school group walked in moments after us and it turned out great, Lydia sat with the 3rd graders and the missionaries kept it short and it was extra entertaining for her.

 

Ooops, Lydia informed me we missed a statue the day before.
We took care of that mistake quick. :)

We had the entire theater to ourselves to watch a 20 minute film about Nauvoo. Lydia and I really enjoyed it and Tyson enjoyed his short nap.

This is one of the original sun stones made by the pioneers for the temple. WOW!!! Part of the temple was destroyed by fire and then a tornado took out the rest of it years later. Amazing that this survived.

Wilford Woodruff’s home was another one I wanted to see. We had heard at the brick house that he wanted a fireplace in each room because he disliked being cold.

Before leaving Nauvoo he sold his house for 645 dollars. That was a good amount.

These were his scriptures on the left, his hat box in the middle photo and one of his many fireplaces. 

He fashioned a night light to hook on a chair so he could read late into the evening. Maybe this is where he sat when he filled all his journals as well. Who knows?

His wife made this quilt. It was gorgeous and must have taken hours. I bet she’d get along great with my mother-in-law who is also amazingly talented at this skill. See here. 

One of his children painted this picture above the mantle.

      

In a gift shop in the new parts of Nauvoo you can learn about how the saints made stained glass.

We took a drive to the quarry with Aunt Peggy & Uncle Ross this evening. The saints found limestone in the middle of the stones to build the temple.

 

Another stone. But not a real one. Check out this pose.

 

They only offer Oxen rides during busy season, but we stopped to say hello and pay our respects. Ha ha. I had to make some good noises to get him to look up. What huge part these animals had in the trek out west.

See how beautiful…..everywhere you turned it was this green & open.

We showed Lydia how they put shoes on the oxen outside the black smith’s workshop. They can’t lift one leg up or they will lose balance & fall over so they had to build a stall to put them in.

We enjoyed another personal tour in the black smith shop. I didn’t know the saints took bee’s with them so they would have them to pollinate once they got to Utah. That was new information to me. Do you see that beehive on the wagon? Neat.

We mostly learned how they made wheels for each wagon. It is an exact science and took a lot of skill. I love fire, I think this would have been a neat place to work.

He made Lydia her very own horse shoe.

Another thing I loved about Nauvoo was the simple wild life. While we were out walking we always heard birds, saw squirrels, we saw some cute little bunnies hopping around and lots of geese too.

We found a bird nest, Lydia was over the moon about this find.

 

During our lunch  I spotted this lovely family crossing the street.

Doesn’t get any sweeter than this!