Nauvoo

Some more pictures from our trip....

A statue of Joseph Smith, from the Visitor's center

The Monument to Women, located behind the Visitor's center. Statue titles include: Women of Knowledge, Compassionate Woman, Woman of Talent, In her Mother's footsteps, Eternal Marriage. This was one of my favorite exhibits, I loved all the different roles and talents showcased.

We went to the Visitor's center upon arrival in Nauvoo, so my kids were ready to run around and play. Natalie felt the need to put the shattered brick pieces back in place. Sophia ran around saying "What is this statue all about?" for each one. Then I somehow persuaded them to sit on a bench with John and act like they like getting their picture taken.

The next morning we visited the town of Nauvoo with all it's professions and shops.

First up: The Blacksmith Shop. The girls like watching him heat up the metal and bend it. I thought it was amazing how they made the wheels and strengthened them with metal. Sophia liked spinning the wheel as pioneer children did, it was to coat the wheel with turpentine to waterproof it.

We visited the gunsmith shop and bakery, here are some pictures from those homes.

From top, there's a picture showing the bed ropes and how to "sleep tight," some china, a fireplace with dried herbs hanging, the sink cabinet, a 6 cup ladle and sugar auger, baking tools, and the cellar doorway that was underneath the floor.

Next we visited the Family Living Center.

We learned how wool was carded, spun, dyed and all about linseed and other ways of making cloth.

Then we learned about baking. The top pictures are repeats with baking tools, the middle picture shows the bustle oven (wood square in the center) along with huge bread boards. The bottom left picture is a proofing box for rising bread, and the bottom left is the pie cupboard. All the doors are punched tin, small enough holes for steam from the baked goods to escape, but not large enough for flies to get in.

We also learned candle making (from animal fat- ewww), and how it took days to purify the fat, then days to dip the strings and make new ones. Then the finished candles had to be protected so animals didn't try to eat them, and buried in the ground so they didn't melt in the hot summer.

Then came the weaving. This was the girl's favorite part. The senior missionary working the loom let them pull the string back and forth to make the rows.

Last but not least we made rope. They girls got to spin the huge wheel to make it twist into small ropes, then pull the board down the middle to make a stronger, thicker, rope.

Some random pics from a humungous tree stump.

Here are some pictures from the Trail of Tears (the exodus from Nauvoo across the river to Iowa, then onto Winter Quarters in Feb of 1846). The pathway to the River, then a statue of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, the Mississippi River, and a replica of the boats they would have used to cross.

Some of the landmarks from Nauvoo- Lucy Mack Smith Home, Red Brick Store, Blacksmith shop, a home with a Bustle oven showing (it sticks out the back of the house like a woman's dress bustle), along with above ground Root Cellar, the Temple and the Mansion House where Joseph Smith lived, and a replica of the log cabin where "The Last Leaf" lived as a girl. The Last Leaf is Mary Field Garner, who lived in Nauvoo as a child, made the trek west to Utah, and was the last remaining person on the earth to have known Joseph Smith, when she died in 1943 at 107 years of age.



Last but not least, some random pictures.

On top, the Rendezvous musical show put on every night by the Senior Missionaries.

Sophia drawing on Slate boards at the school house, the girls in Bonnets, and a sign "City uv Josef" from the schoolhouse, which taught all the different immigrants English by teaching them to spell phonetically. Which makes sense...until you consider all the accents. Might not have been the most effective!