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

DAY 14 – July 12, 2012 Carthage and New Salem

Notes on Nauvoo:

We saw everything except 2 vignettes, “Go Ye Unto All the World”, and “Women of Nauvoo”.  I do wish we could have seen those, but they didn’t start showing those vignettes until the day we left, and it seemed silly to stay another whole day just for two things.  So we headed on our way.

I also wanted to address another thing we did just by accident, which turned out absolutely perfect.  We came to Nauvoo 3 days before the pageant.  I think beating the pageant is what gave us the personal relationships that we were able to build.  Things were less crowded.  Missionaries giving tours were able to spend more time with us teaching and talking to us.  The day before the pageant our camp only had 2 other RV’s.  But by that night when we drove in from being gone all day, the camp was wall to wall RV’s.  And the town changed like that too.  I’m grateful for the time we had to enjoy Nauvoo on a more personal level.  But you don’t want to miss the pageant and all the special events that occur during it.  So coming early was wonderful, and I would highly recommend it!

Notes on Church History Tours:

Everyone we meet is heading to Missouri from here.  Nauvoo is close to Missouri and geographically it makes sense.  The problem is the way they have set up the pageants.  In order to see both the Nauvoo and the Hill Cumorah Pageant, it just isn’t feasible to go to Missouri.  From Nauvoo, we go to Springfield, then Kirtland, than Niagara Falls, then Palmyra.  We saw the first showing of the Nauvoo Pageant, and we have one week to make it to Palmyra to see the last showing of the Hill Cumorah.  So that is why we made the choice.

We will be able to come through Missouri on our way home and have time to do all the church sites in Missouri, and fit in Hannibal (Mark Twain’s home town), and enjoy St. Louis, and enjoy Amish country, and perhaps fit in Branson.  So we are skipping Missouri, even though it is so close in site, to keep our direction to Palmyra.

BACK TO TODAY:

Barge in the Mississippi River, with American Lotus Flowers all along the shore line.

We woke up this morning and headed to Carthage.  The first part of the drive from Nauvoo to Carthage is along the Mississippi River.  It is a very beautiful drive.  It’s crazy how far out the River is shallow.  All along the river the American Lotus grows.  It grows in the river, but can’t grow in water deeper than 18 inches.  And as you drive along the Mississippi you can see Lotus flowers everywhere, it seems almost a quarter of the way out to the middle of the river.

We thought getting to Carthage early, we would beat the crowds.  But there are so many in Nauvoo, there was no beating the crowds.  By the time we got to Carthage they had only been open an hour and they said they had already had 250 visitors.  So there was some waiting to get in, but well worth it.

While we were waiting for a tour, they asked if anyone could play the piano.  And to my surprise Bazooka raised his hand.  He has never had a day of piano lessons, so we were all a little startled.  Mr. S has been practicing the piano this summer, which has gotten all the little kids to want to practice too.  Bazooka has been trying to teach himself how to play some hymns.  So he tells the tour guide that he knows how to play “The Spirit of God”.  I don’t want to say that I held my breath when he walked up to the grand piano in front of all those people, because that might sound rude.  But I did turn a slight tinge of blue…but he sat down, and played the “Spirit of God” amazingly.  He was so awesome!  Maybe we will get a pianist out of these kids yet.  Go Bazooka!

Some of our friends we met in Nauvoo came a little after we got there, and we were able to tour Carthage with them.   I have been to Carthage before as a child, and I know the story of Joseph’s death.  So the thing that struck me this time was the story of how the jailer took care of Joseph.  I think that says a lot about who Joseph was.  People not of our church might have different beliefs about things, but no one would murder an innocent man.  This jailer knew he was not a hardened criminal, and took all the precautions he could to keep him safe, including in the end giving him his upstairs bedroom to keep Joseph away from the mobs.  But when the Lord numbers the days of our lives, it’s His time reckoning that determines when we leave this earth.  So of all the times the mob was not aloud to hurt him, this time they did.

My favorite part of this story, is knowing he got to leave with his brother.  In the pageant when they talk about Joseph and Hyrum dying, they show both of them walking off the stage into the dark together.  It’s really moving.  If only we all had family that stays with us through it all.

I have added two photos of some paintings that I loved from Carthage.  The first one is of Joseph leaving Nauvoo never to return.  It shows the temple half built in the background.  How sad for him not to see it finished in this life, although I’m sure he had a hand in the finishing of it from the heavens.

The other painting is by a painter with the last name of Gork.  He was asked by President Packer to do a painting of Joseph teaching along the Mississippi, since there are so many stories of him doing just that.  Brother Gork painted himself and the person who converted him into the painting.  Brother Gork is the one holding the hat, and his friend is the one listening to Joseph intently with his hand on his chin.  I do love this painting.

After Carthage we visited with our friends for a while and exchanged information so we could keep in touch.  Mr. S mentioned again on the way out of Carthage how sweet the relationships were that we have made on the trip.  I hope we will keep in touch.

I mentioned on a previous day that Mr. S ran into one of his cousins in Nauvoo.  It was very unexpected, as we did not know he lived in this area.  So after Carthage we went to Macomb, IL to have lunch.  It was great to visit and catch up with family.  After lunch we were on our way to Petersburg, Illinois.  Petersburg has a little rebuilt city called New Salem.  And it’s similar to Nauvoo, in the sense that it’s a rebuilt town similar to something Abraham Lincoln would have seen in his days.  Fireball mentioned the other day, “We sure do like visiting a lot of old things.”  I guess that’s what this trip is about, a lot of old things.

New Salem is a Village that has been reconstructed.  There is a 15 minute video that explains Abraham Lincoln and his time in New Salem.  Then you walk the grounds.  They have 24 places to visit including residences, a cooper shop, blacksmith shop, schoolhouse, 4 stores, a tavern, an archeological walk, a saw and gristmill, and a carding mill and wool house.

The Carding Mill and Wool House is one of only three working animal powered carding mills in the world.  How cool is that!  It was quite a thing to see.  After learning how to card in Nauvoo, seeing this machine that could do it so well, was fun.

They also have a theater here, and live productions are featured June through August.  I didn’t realize that, and we arrived the day before a big production and we are leaving tomorrow.  They also have campgrounds, so you can spend the night when you are visiting.  Just be sure to make it early enough to get in.  I didn’t even think about it closing, and we barely made it…it closes at 5pm.

It was interesting to come here after Nauvoo.  I will say, I think New Salem is the perfect compliment when going to Springfield.  It gives a person an introduction to the younger Abraham Lincoln, preparing the way to see the political Lincoln in Springfield.

But I would say Nauvoo is the perfect complement to New Salem.  Nauvoo and New Salem are cities that existed pretty close to the same time period.  And the differences between Nauvoo and New Salem really complement each other.

In Nauvoo we were constantly taught about how pioneers lived.  My kids learned so much.  When we got to New Salem, it is a personal walking tour, with signs explaining what the buildings are and tells a little about the occupants.  There are no explanations of what is inside the buildings.  There are no tour guides.  (Nauvoo has hundreds of volunteers and tour guides, but New Salem is limited with only 2 staff and a handful of volunteers).  But our children had learned so much about pioneer lifestyle from Nauvoo, they could look in a building at New Salem and pick out everything…the candle molds, the bed warmers, the wooden vice grips…they knew the coopers shop when they saw it, and the blacksmiths shop.  My kids were so excited to see that the school house was a blab school, because they had learned all about that in Nauvoo.  Having learned in Nauvoo really enhanced and was reinforced in New Salem.

The reason it’s worth going to New Salem…first because it did give the kids a chance to re-talk about on their own, all the things they had learned.  But also, it was a different view of that time period.  In Nauvoo they have rebuilt many of the important buildings, which had foundations that they could see, and those tended to be built with brick.  So most of Nauvoo today is made up of brick buildings.  But they tell us that for every brick home in Nauvoo there were three log homes, but there are hardly any log homes to see.  New Salem is all log homes, so you can look at New Salem, and imagine what Nauvoo started like, and fill in the blanks of what the buildings would have looked like that were in between all the old brick buildings we visited.  Nauvoo was also one of the largest cities in Illinois, and New Salem…a smaller one, so our kids could get an idea of what the different cities would have looked like.

I had never heard of New Salem until I was looking up what we could see about Abraham Lincoln in Springfield.  I am so grateful I found it.  It was the perfect bookend to our visit…two “old cities” as Fireball would say.

Taken by my friend at Carthage Jail. The window where Joseph died.

Summary of Day 14

Drove:  124 miles

Places we visited: Carthage Jail, Guadalupe’s Restaurant in Macomb, and New Salem, IL

Favorite thing that happened today:
Fireball: the playground at New Salem campground
Jawbreaker: Carthage and burritos with dad’s cousin
Starburst, Bazooka, Spitz: Carthage
Warhead :  having burritos with dad’s cousin
Mr. and Mrs. S:  Carthage, Bazooka playing the piano and being with friends