US History and LDS Church History Trip…and links to each days blog

This is a National Cemetery were many soldiers are buried from the Battle of Antietam.

Brigham Young’s Mill and Home Site

We visited 218 US History and LDS Church History sites in 47 days.  (That included visiting 54 different cities). Each day is blogged with information about places we visited, maps, photos and highlights of the day.

If you would like more information if you are planning a trip, you can email me at priceless6191@gmail.com.  I kept very detailed records including: budgets, trip plans, and calenders for the trip showing our day by day progress.  I also have tons of brochures and maps for specific places, although I did try to scan the most important details I have onto each blog page.  Below is listed each city we visited, and what we did there.  Click on a city and start exploring.

I made this blog because I realized I would have appreciated a site with more specific information.  I hope this is beneficial to anyone who wants to take a history trip.  It was our families dream trip, and we still refer to it often.

Here is a PDF with a summary of our trip. (If you would like an editable version, I have the spreadsheet version also.)
Trip Itinerary

** Just a side note as you look around the site…no my kids names are not Bazooka, Starburst, Jawbreaker etc…our kids just picked nicknames so they could have some privacy.  Have fun looking!!!!

Alcova, WY
Devils Gate, Church, Trek, Independence Rock

Custer, WY
Custer County Museum, City 4th of July

Crazy Horse, SD

Keystone, SD
Mount Rushmore 4th July Celebrations

Rapid City, SD
Dinosaur Park, Storybook Park

Wall, SD
Wall Drug

Omaha, NE
Winter Quarters Visitors Center, Winters Quarters Temple (E,B), Mormon Pioneer Cemetery, Glenn Cunningham Lake, Pioneer Courage Park

Council Bluffs, Iowa
Kanesville Tabernacle

Nauvoo, IL
Play “High Hopes and Riverboats”, Movie “Remembering Nauvoo”, Play “Sunset by the Mississippi”, Women’s Garden, Riser Boot Shop, Blacksmith Shop, Seventies Hall, Lucy M Smith Home, Brickyard, Heber Kimball and Wilford Woodruff’s homes, Movie “Joseph Smith-Prophet of the Restoration”, Joseph Smith’s Homestead, Mansion House, Nauvoo House, Red Brick Store, Smith Family Cemetery, Trail of Hope, Youth of Zion, Play “Old Anna Amanda” 2xs, Nauvoo Pageant 2xs, Carriage Ride, Pioneer Park Pastimes, Nauvoo Temple (B,E), Frontier Fair 2xs, Play “Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo”, Old Nauvoo Burial Grounds, Lands and Records Office, King Follet Discourse, Emma and Josephs Letters Vignette

Carthage, IL
Carthage Jail

Macomb, IL
Dinner with Steve -Guadalupes Restaurant

Petersburg, IL
Lincolns New Salem (camped there)

Springfield, IL
Springfield Vis Ctr, Lincolns Home Vis Ctr, Lincolns Home, Lincolns-Herndon Law Office, Old Capital, Lincoln Library, Lincoln Presidential Museum

Chicago, IL
Chicago Navy Pier, Magnificent Mile, Millennium Park, Cloud Gate, Chicago Temple (B,E)

Gary, IN
Just for Gas and Photos

Kirtland OH
Kirtland Ward, Ashery, Isaac Morley Farm, Newel K. Whitney Store, Whitney Home, Sawmill, Schoolhouse, Kirtland Temple RLDS

Parma, OH
Brian and Camilla’s Home

Hiram, OH
John Johnson’s Home

Middlefield, OH
Amish Country, Cheese Factory, Hiram College (where President Garfield attended and taught)

Kenmore, NY
Mags home, Keeners, Lindbergh Elementary, Pam’s Home

Niagra Falls
Niagara Falls, Cave of Winds

Buffalo, NY(2 sites or events)
Downtown Buffalo, Duffs Chicken Wings

Mendon, NY
Home built by Brigham, Early Meeting Home, Phineas Young’s Home, John Young’s Home, Tom Tomlinson Inn, Heber Kimballs home site, Camped at John Young’s Home, Site of Brigham Young’s Mill and Home, Baptismal Site, Tomlinsons Cemetery

Palmyra, NY
Palmyra Visitors Center, Palmyra Temple (B,E), Palmyra Pageant, Sacred Grove, Smith’s Log Cabin and Frame House Alvin built, Hill Cumorah, Martin Harris’s Home, Book of Mormon Publication Site (Grandin Building)

Waterloo, NY
Peter Whitmer home

Oakland, PA
Aaronic Priesthood Monument, Joseph and Emma’s Home Site, Grave of Emmas parents and son Alvin Smith, Susquehanna River

Jersey City, NJ 
Liberty Harbor

New York, NY
PATH Rail System, Site World Trade Center, 911 Memorial and Museum, Battery Park, Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, New York Stock Exchange, China Town, Little Italy, Noho, Washington Square Park, New York University, Empire State Building, Garment District, Bryant Park, Time’s Square, Theatre District, NBC Studios, Carnegie Hall, Central Park, New York City LDS Temple, Madison Square Gardens

Philadelphia, PA
Independence Visitor Center, Independence Hall, Congress Hall, City Tavern (restaurant), Carpenters Hall, New Hall Military Museum, Benjamin Franklin’s Grave, President’s House Site, Liberty Bell Center”

Hershey, PA
Hershey Amusement Park

Gettysburg, PA
Gettysburg National Park

WashingtonDC
Washington DC Temple (B,E), IKEA, Ford’s Theatre, Petersen House and Center for Education and Leadership, Spy Museum, National Archives, Washington Memorial, World War II Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, Thomas Jefferson Memorial, Holocaust Museum, Lincoln Walking Tour, Arlington Cemetery, United States Capital Building, a Session of Congress, a Session of the House of Representatives, Smithsonian Natural History Museum, Smithsonian American History Museum, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, White House, Holocaust Museum, Nationals Game

Alexandria, Virginia
Mount Vernon

Centreville, VA
Bull Run Regional Park (Camping), visit with Tamara and family, Atlantis Water Park

Manassas, VA
Battle of 1st and 2nd Bull Run (Manassas)

Harpers Ferry, WV
Harpers Ferry

Sharpsburg, MD
Antietem Battle Field

Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria, VA Pier and Chick-fil-A

Chantilly, VA
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Annex

Middletown, VA
Cedar Creek Battlefield (2nd Manassas Battle Reenactment)

Charlottesville, VA
Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, University of Virginia

Buena Vista, VA
Southern Virginia University

St Louis, MO
St Louis Temple (B,E), St Louis Arch and Musuem, Old Court House (Dred Scott Case), Outside Busch Stadium, Feet in the Mississippi, Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Park and Grant Farm, Home Town Buffet, St Louis Cardinals Game, St Louis RV Park

Cottleville, MO
Joel and Christy’s Home

Independence, MO
LDS Visitor’s Center, Harry Truman Presidential Library, Missouri Mormon Walking Tour (things we saw on the tour: Clinton’s Soda Fountain, Jackson County Courthouse, 1827 Log Courthouse, Bingham-Waggoner Estate, Church of Christ Temple Lot, Community of Christ Temple, Gilbert and Whitney Store, Printing Office Site (Evening and Morning Star), Governor Boggs Home Site, and Partridge Home Site and School) , Campus RV Park (next door to the LDS Visitors Center), Vaile Mansion

Kansas City, MO
Kansas City Temple (B)

Liberty, MO
Liberty Jail, Eight Witnesses Monument

Richmond, MO
David Whitmer’s Grave, David Whitmer’s Livery site (marked by with a plaque), Old Richmond Jail Location, Statue of General Alexander W. Doniphan, Pioneer Cemetery (Monument for the Three Witnesses, Grave for Oliver Cowdery, Peter Jr. and Jacob Whitmer’s Graves)

Farwest, MO
Far West Temple Site

Jamesport, MO
Amish Country, Amish Baseball Game, and Shopping

Jameson, MO
Adam-ondi-Ahman , Jameson Town Fair and Parade

Doniphan, NE
Mormon Island

McKinnon, WY
Little America

Boston, MA
11 years later we went back to add Boston to our list or US/church history travels. Here is a link to the beginning of that trip. Yale, Scarburough and Prospect Ave in Hartford, CT, Mark Twain’s Home, Boston Temple, Boston Aquarium, Faneuil Hall, Boston Massacre Site, Old State House, Boston Latin School Site, Park Street Church, Granary Burying Ground, New State House, Boston Commons, Harbor Cruise, USS Constitution, Bunker Hill Monument, Old North Church, Paul Revere’s Home, Old South Meeting House, Union Oyster House, Omni Parker House, Cheers, Prudential Tower Observation Deck, Trinity Church of Boston, Old South Church

Other Valuable Links:
Mormon Pioneer Trail Auto Tour Route Guide
mormontrails.org

Our Families Favorite LDS Historic Sites

You can’t really rank any church or US historical sites, because all of it was amazing!  But since most people don’t have 47 days we thought we’d have our kids rank what they would say were the sites that were a must see.  Our kids were told if they could only visit 3 of the church sites we went to, what would they choose.  So here their choices….some of them surprised me a little…

Jawbreaker (male teenager)
1st Nauvoo, 2nd Martins Cove, 3rd Palmyra

Spitz (male teenager)
1st Nauvoo Temple, 2nd Nauvoo, 3rd Martins Cove

Warhead (male teenager)
1st Martin’s Cove, 2nd Nauvoo, 3rd Palmyra

Bazooka (male pre-teen)
1st Martin’s Cove, 2nd Nauvoo, 3rd Palmyra

Starburst (female 7yrs old)
1st Nauvoo, 2nd Martin’s Cove, 3rd Palmyra

Fireball (male 6 yrs old)
1st Nauvoo, 2nd Martin’s Cove, 3rd Palmyra

Mr. S (adult male)
1st Nauvoo, 2nd Palmyra, 3rd Kirtland

Mrs. S (adult female)
1st Nauvoo, 2nd Adam-ondi-Ahman, 3rd Palmyra or Martin’s Cove

Favorite thing about Nauvoo:
Jawbreaker: Nauvoo Temple
Spitz: the Nauvoo Pageant and the people
Warhead : the missionaries
Bazooka: the play “Sunset on the Mississippi”
Starburst: the play “High Hopes and Riverboats”
Fireball: the play “Just Plain Anna Amanda”
Mr. and Mrs. S: Celestial Room in the Nauvoo Temple, the Pageant

Favorite thing about Palmyra:
Jawbreaker: Palmyra Temple
Spitz: Palmyra Pageant
Warhead: Palmyra Pageant
Bazooka: Sacred Grove
Starburst: Palmyra Pageant
Fireball: Palmyra Pageant
Mr. S: Palmyra Temple, Sacred Grove
Mrs. S: Palmyra Temple, Sacred Grove, Pageant

Favorite LDS Site in Missouri:
Jawbreaker: Kansas City Temple
Spitz: Kansas City Temple
Warhead : Kansas City Temple
Bazooka: Adam-ondi-Ahman
Starburst: St Louis and Kansas City Temple
Fireball: Liberty Jail
Mr. S: Kansas City Temple
Mrs. S: Adam-ondi-Ahman

DAY 43 – August 10, 2012 – Independence, Kansas City Temple, Liberty, Richmond, Far West, Adam-ondi-Ahman

Bingham-Waggoner Estate

So much happened today, I’m hoping I can keep track of it all. I spent the morning looking at the two mansions. Warhead and Starburst went with me to the Bingham-Waggoner Estate. I will tell you, of the two I visited this morning, this was my favorite. The home is beautiful, elegant and old. It wasn’t too over the top. And what I liked about it better than the Vaile Mansion is that the furnishings were 90% original to the home. It felt cohesive. It had so much history to it, and so many things they discovered as they were renovating it, it was an enjoyable tour, and a home I could dream about living in.

The Vaile Mansion home was beautiful also. It was a little too frilly for me, but it was very fun to tour. Warhead and Spitz came with me on this one. I have loved discovering on this trip that most of my kids love old things like I do. It was fun to tour the house together. The Vaile Mansion did have one thing that stuck out and was kind of fun. Most of the wood in the house is a fawx finish, made to look like a different kinds of wood.

The best was in one small room in the house, the artist had made shapes of people all over the wood grain. It was amazing! They don’t know if that was requested, or if the artist did it and didn’t mention it to anyone. It’s not something we noticed until the tour guide pointed it out.  But once she did, we had a ball finding all the faces all over the windows.  That was very fun.

I’ve always thought if a girl is going to daydream, she shouldn’t dream of fairy tales, but dream of real castles where real dreams come true.

KANSAS CITY TEMPLE
After touring the houses we raced to the Kansas City where the boys did baptisms at the Kansas City Temple. They have kind of odd hours for doing endowments, so after the boys did baptisms at 1pm they didn’t have a session for Mr. S and I until 5pm. We really couldn’t wait around that long, so I didn’t go in. It was a beautiful temple. It was just dedicated this May. Mr. S said you could tell that all the temple workers were so excited about having the temple, they were all just beaming from ear to ear and talked about how amazing it was. It is a very beautiful temple. Starburst and I were so engrossed in taking pictures of the outside of the temple, we actually got back to find the boys already done and dressed ready to leave.

LIBERTY
After the temple we headed to Liberty Jail. At the visitor’s center they talked to us about what took place that brought the Prophet Joseph Smith to Liberty Jail. Then they brought us into the room where they have rebuilt Liberty Jail. There was nothing left of Liberty Jail. But years earlier the church had sent a historian out to take pictures and measurements. And he did such a great job, they were able to rebuild an exact replica. It made me claustrophic just imagining being locked in that basement room without windows, clean air, or being able to stand up straight for so long. They were there for four months! But many blessings came from it. Doctrine Covenants 121-123 were given in Liberty Jail, which are some of the most powerful scriptures for strengthening in times of trial. It was a neat place to visit.

While you are either here or at Independence you should ask for the Historic Sites brochure. It has a map of all the Mormon sites to visit. And since many of the sites in Missouri are only markers, (there are no addresses) it gives all the GPS coordinates so you can find places. It was indispensable, even after all the research and things I had looked up on the internet. I don’t think we could have done it all without it. They said you can request to have one mailed to you so you can plan your trip.

One of the newer places you can visit at Liberty is the new Eight Witnesses Monument.  It was just erected in November 2011.  It is a great monument, but you will think you are lost as you get towards the end, because they have erected it in the middle of nowhere.

On the monument there is an explanation of why it is placed in this location.  “In November 1833, political, economic and religious conflict led to the expulsion of approximately 1,200 Mormons from Jackson County, Missouri.  Most of the exiles found refuge in Clay County, some of whom found safe haven at the farm of Michael Arthur who befriended them.  Arthur also employed a number of Mormon men including John Whitmer, Lyman Wight, Levi Hancock, Heman Hyde, Stephen and Benjamin Winchester and Wilford Woodruff, who were contracted to make 100,000 bricks constructing the Arthur home which stood south of this monument until about 1970.

Lyman Wight and his family also occupied a home on the Arthur property from 1834 until the summer of 1836.  Missouri church leaders held many meetings at Wight’s home considered by some to be the headquarters of the church for Mormons residing in the county.”

RICHMOND
After Liberty we decided to visit Richmond. This is one site I would say if you were in a big hurry, could be skipped. There are a lot of things in Richmond, but they are all plaques, so you are driving out of your way to see historic markers. But we had the time, and we kind of treated it like geocaching. It was fun to see who could find the plaque first, because the coordinates don’t quite get you at the exact spot, so we had to do some hunting.

Here we were able to see David Whitmer’s Livery site (marked with a plaque) and David Whitmer’s Grave. David Whitmer’s grave is marked with a standing marker right on the cement driving path through the cemetery. So you don’t have to get out of your car looking until you see the marker.  But we didn’t know that, so while we were searching, some women stopped a car and asked us if we were looking for Bob Ford. Apparently the person who shot Jesse James is buried in this same cemetery, but no we didn’t look, so we never found him. But David Whitmer was right next to the marker, right next to the driveway in the cemetery.

We visited the Old Richmond Jail Location. It looks like perhaps the church owns the land. But all it is, is a little fenced in yard right between two people’s backyards…kind of interesting. There is a plaque in front of it. It was in the Richmond Jail where Joseph Smith was chained and padlocked to six other people, forced to sleep on the floor in a miserable cold room. The Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt tells of this night, and I will quote him,

“In one of those tedious nights we had lain as if in sleep till the hour of midnight had passed, and our ears and hearts had been pained, while we had listened for hours to the obscene jests, the horrid oaths, the dreadful blasphemies and filthy language of our guards, Colonel Price (no relations) at their head, as they recounted to each other their deeds of rapine, murder, robbery, etc., which they had committed among the “Mormons” while at Far West and vicinity. They even boasted of defiling by force wives, daughters, and virgins, and of shooting or dashing out the brains of men, women and children.”

“I had listened till I became so disgusted, shocked, horrified, and so filled with the spirit of indignant justice that I could scarcely refrain from rising upon my feet and rebuking the guards; But had said nothing to Joseph, or any one else, although I lay next to him and knew he was awake. On a sudden, he arose to his feet, and spoke in a voice of thunder, or as a roaring lion, uttering, as near as I can recollect, the following words:”

‘SILENCE’, ye fiends of the infernal pit. In the name of Jesus Christ I rebuke you, and command you to be still; I will not live another minute and hear such language. Cease such talk, or you or I die THIS INSTANT!’

“He ceased to speak. He stood erect in terrible majesty. Chained, and without a weapon; calm, unruffled and dignified as an angel, he looked upon the quailing guards, whose weapons were lowered or dropped to the ground; whose knees smote together, and who, shrinking into a corner, or crouching at his feet, begged his pardon, and remained quiet till a change of guards.”

“I have seen the ministers of justice, clothed in magisterial robes, and criminals arraigned before them, while life was suspended on a breath, in the Courts of England; I have witnessed a Congress in solemn session to give law to nations; I have tried to conceive of kings, or royal courts, of thrones and crowns; and of emperors assembled to decide the fate of kingdoms; but dignity and majesty have I seen but once, as it stood in chains, at midnight, in a dungeon in an obscure village of Missouri.” -Parley P Pratt

Many think this happened in Liberty Jail, but it happened here at Richmond, before he was brought to Liberty.

I think it a very fitting tribute to General Alexander W. Doniphan to have written in stone above his head at the Courthouse, “Obedience to Law is Liberty”.

We visited the statue of General Alexander W. Doniphan. He was a friend to the church. He helped form Daviess and Caldwell County, when the Mormons were looking for a safe place after being kicked out of Independence. And once when Joseph Smith was arrested, he was told by General Samuel D. Lucas to take the prisoners to the Far West public square and shoot them. General Doniphan saved the life of Joseph and Hyrum by defying a direct order to execute them, and told the General he would hold him accountable if it happened.

Out of all of the places we visited in Richmond, the neatest was Pioneer Cemetery. Here the church has bought the cemetery which was very rundown. They re-landscaped and took any broken headstones and cemented them into the ground. The headstones that couldn’t be placed with anyone, they made a little garden area surrounding the remaining broken pieces of headstones.

There is the Monument for the Three Witnesses and also marks the grave for Oliver Cowdery. You can find Peter Jr. and Jacob Whitmer’s Graves are here also. It is a very beautiful cemetery. There is parking so people can come and walk through it, which you can do in minutes because it is very small.

There is one thing we missed at Richmond that we had tried to get to. The Richmond County Museum has a Mormon room. I had read on the internet they had some things worth seeing, but I cannot verify that since we were not able to get in. The Museum closes at 4pm.

FAR WEST
After Richmond we drove to Far West. Far West was nothing like I expected. It is a great place to stop and have lunch, or talk about the places you have been. They have the area where the four cornerstones of the temple have been laid fenced. You can walk in and look at the monument and the cornerstones. Outside they have a small park with restrooms and picnic tables. It is very peaceful and beautiful. It is very hard to imagine that Far West was once a large city with 5000 LDS Saints living there. It is very empty.

Driving away towards Adam-ondi-Ahman is a beautiful site. Where Richmond is kind or run down, the part of Far West we saw were very rural, with rolling hills and farms. It was very beautiful.

We had planned on going to Haun’s Mill, but we were running out of daylight hours. From what I had read Haun’s Mill has a rutty dirt road to get to the marker (and that’s all that is there). I wasn’t sure if we drove 25 miles out of our way we would even be able to get to it with the motor home, so we decided to pass and head to Adam-ondi-Ahman.
*There is a park where they have a Mill Stone they believe is from Haun’s Mill. It think this is more accessible, but still 25 miles away.

ADAM-ONDI-AHMAN
By the time we arrived it was getting dark. So we drove in and looked for a little bit. It is much grander than I expected it to be. I guess an outsider would just look at it as a large park, but the feeling there is amazing.  We will be going back in the morning.

JAMESPORT
We headed out to look for a campground. In our search we came across some Amish wagons racing through the streets. They just kept coming, lots of them, and they were driving fast. We decided we had to check it out. It turned out they were having a late night baseball game. It was an interesting site to see 10-12 Amish horses and wagons lined up along the baseball field. Mr. S was very curious but didn’t want to invade their space, so he sat in the park across the street and let the little kids play so he could watch.

We ended up parking there for a while. Jawbreaker was sitting with Mr. S and some of the Amish boys his age came over and invited him over to talk with them. They said that none of them were in school, because they only go to school until the 8th grade. They all have professions. He had a very interesting conversation with them.

The boys are hesitant for me to say how the night went. They don’t want to be disrespectful to the Amish, but I don’t believe these boys represented their church. The boys playing baseball all started drinking, and it was getting really wild and really late. They were very nice to our kids, but you could tell their judgement was starting to get extremely impaired, and I wasn’t sure if sleeping next to all this was so great, so we left Jamesport.

We had thought Jamesport would be one of the safest places to just park and sleep because of the Amish. It made me sad to see how those boys were acting. I don’t know enough about their religion to know if what they were doing was following their religion, but I had a hard time believing that it was.

I felt really bad for those boys. In some ways they seemed like they were living their religion, and in other ways not much. I’ve just found in my own life, straddling religion, with one leg in and one leg out just seems to tear at a person’s soul. It made me really sad for them.

So we left Jamesport because we were scared of the drunk Amish…not something I ever imagined saying.

Summary of Day 43
Drove: 173 miles

Places we visited or saw: Bingham-Waggoner Estate, Vaile Mansion, Baptisms at the Kansas City Temple, Liberty Jail, Eight Witnesses Monument, David Whitmer’s Grave, David Whitemer’s Livery site (marked by with a plaque), Old Richmond Jail Location, Statue of General Alexander W. Doniphan, Pioneer Cemetery (Monument for the Three Witnesses, Grave for Oliver Cowdery, Peter Jr. and Jacob Whitmer’s Graves), Far West Temple Site, Adam-ondi-Ahman, Jamesport

Here is a PDF link to the same map that is shown below: 026 Missouri LDS Historic Sites