Historic Nauvoo sites - Mormon history

Besides general life in the 1800s, of course Nauvoo also has sites that are specific to Mormon history. A religious visitors center has displays and information about our faith. You can tour some of the homes of early Church leaders that have been restored. And we went to the site of Joseph Smith's assassination, a few miles away in Carthage. To us, of course, these are the important sites that we made sure to visit to reinforce to our daughters the sacrifices made by our ancestors in behalf of the Gospel of Christ.

Our family on the steps of the temple, one of our most sacred buildings. The Mormons in the 1840s built the original temple, which was burned by an arsonist and completely destroyed. It was rebuilt 1999-2002 using the original blueprints and except for things like air conditioning and elevators, it's the same temple as before.

The ladies at our family reunion at the Visitor's Center.

Outside the Visitor's Center is a Women's Garden with statues depicting various principles and concepts about the Gospel and life. We decided to have a little fun and "copy" them.

One of the family life statues in the Women's Garden.

John Taylor's home, the 3rd President of the LDS Church. The story of the rocking horse behind the girls is that when the Church members began to move out of Nauvoo to start the trek to Utah, the horse was left behind. President Taylor's son was very upset by this, so President Taylor sneaked back into Nauvoo at night (the violent mobs were very active, particularly against leadership) and retrieved the horse. It made the trip to Utah and was passed down through the family, who donated it to the Church to be placed in the house when it was restored.

She never said why, but Sunny was very insistent that she see where Joseph Smith is buried. Here, with his brother Hyrum who was killed with him, and his wife Emma who lived another 30-40 years or so.

Joseph and Emma Smith's home, called the Mansion House.

Sunny (and our tour guide) at Carthage Jail examining the door to the room where Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed. Yes, that's one of the bullet holes still in it.

So attentive! (Sometimes.)

Outside Carthage Jail, with a statue of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. Hyrum was one of Joseph's older brothers and was legendary for his continual support and backup of Joseph.