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 20 – July 18, 2012 – Mendon NY and Palmyra

Before I get going I want to post this blog:  http://www.servossnyr.blogspot.com/

This is the missionary’s blog that shared us the tour of Mendon.  His site has some stories and information about Mendon, and is well worth looking at.

Brigham Young’s Mill and Home Site

We started the morning at 8:30 am with a tour continued in Mendon.  If you head east on the road that John Young’s home is on the first speed limit sign you see (about 200 yards away) on the right side of the road there is a creek that heads south.  If you follow that creek it will lead you to the back of the churches property where there is a sign showing you where Brigham Young’s Mill and home were located.

Elder Servoss also shared with us a drawing that one of the locals did for a school project in the early 1900’s.  She was trying to figure out what Brigham Young’s Mill would have looked like, and based on her interviews, she diagrammed how she thought the mill would have appeared.  He game me a copy of that.

Area they believe Brigham had dammed up and they performed baptisms there.

There is a sign there that says that Brigham Young was baptized there, but that is not correct.  If you follow a path that is on your left when you are facing the sign, it will take you to a small bridge that crosses the creek.  They think it was in that area that so many in Mendon were baptized.  Brigham had dammed up the water there to build pressure for his Mill, and it was a great place to baptize people.

After we visited these sites we separated from the group and headed up to the Tomlinson Cemetery.  There are gravestones for President Kimball’s grandfather, and Brigham Young’s wife.  One neat story about Brigham’s wife…she was sick in bed with tuberculosis.  But after reading the Book of Mormon she wanted to get baptized.  So she got out of her sick bed to be baptized in the creek.  A couple of months later she died.  What faith these people had.

This is the skyline looking down from Tomlinson Cemetery. We read Heber’s vision here as we looked over the valley.

While we were up at Tomlinson’s Cemetery, you have a perfect view of the valley, where the Young’s homes were, and the Inn.  You can see the sky from the East to the West.  Heber C. Kimball’s vision happened in the sky over this area.  So we sat in Tomlinson’s Cemetery and read his vision.  Both he and Brigham Young had the same vision on the same day.  And later in Kirtland they started sharing the story with each other and realized they both had seen it.  The vision happened on the day the prophet received the Gold Plates.

There were a couple more homes we could have driven by in Mendon, but we thought that was a great way to end that part of the trip and headed to Palmyra.  Mendon was so much more than we expected.  It’s a place I would love to learn more about, the it is so thick with history.  I was told if anyone wants to learn more about Mendon that there are a series of books written.  The first one is called “The Mendon Saints: Their Lives and Legacy” by Stephen G. Schwendiman.  I was told it has so much information about these Saints it is going to take him 4 volumes (I believe is what I was told) to tell their story.  Definitely something I will be looking for when I get home.

We drove into Palmyra, and had time to walk through the front part of the visitors center and watch their new movie “The Restoration”.  They also had a display of old Pageant Costumes that our kids loved.  It was clear from the beginning this was going to be nothing like Nauvoo’s Pageant.  Everything was so colorful and intricate…the kids were very excited.

Palmyra Temple

After the movie, we had to rush out to make it to the Palmyra Temple so the boys could do baptisms. The Palmyra Temple is beautiful, and overlooks the Sacred Grove.  It is quite a site.

After the baptisms we had a little free time for dinner and cleanup before the Pageant.  We got to the pageant just as it was getting dark.  As we walked out of the parking lot to the seats we were greeted by Nephites and Lamanites.  They have some of the people in the pageant out to welcome everyone.  It was fun to look at their costumes.  We probably passed 60 costumed people greeting us before we got to our seats.

You could tell right from the beginning this was not Nauvoo.  The set is way more complex, and that’s what we thought before the show, once the show started we realized this was an understatement.  The set looks like South American ruins.  But during the pageant, waterfalls came out of this set, fire shot out from multiple spots.  Mist and water surrounded a large boat as it crossed the ocean, and what looked like volcanic matter shot from this set.  They also had a baptismal font in it, two different places for people to be burned on the set, and Christ came out of the heavens, which left my younger children speechless.

The Palmyra Pageant

Everything about the Palmyra pageant is large, the costumes, set, and the scope of the story they tell (they go through many stories in the Book of Mormon).  It was a must see, and you could never choose between the Nauvoo Pageant or the Palmyra, they are just too different pageants completely.  I have some kids that said they would love to be in the Nauvoo Pageant, and others said they would much rather be in the Palmyra Pageant, and all for different reasons.

Warhead passed the shed where they stored props including all the Book of Mormon weapons, he just stopped to drool and said, “Look at that toybox!”  He has made sure to walk back by that shed multiple times.

It was a great night.  We were all so exhausted, we don’t stop too often.  I don’t know how Mr. S is doing it, because our rest time, is usually when he is driving.  But everyone including Mr. S is loving this trip.

Summary of Day 20
Drove: 72 miles

Places we visited or saw:
Brigham Young was baptized Brigham Young’s Area where old Mill was and Baptismal Site, Tomlinson’s Cemetery, Palmyra Visitor’s Center, Palmyra Temple, Palmyra Pageant

Favorite thing we did today:
Jawbreaker: Palmyra Temple
Everyone Else: Palmyra Pageant
Mrs. S: Palmyra Pageant, and Tomlinson Cemetery

DAY 19 – July 17, 2012 – Niagara Falls and Mendon, NY

Niagara Falls, NY

Every time I think that a day couldn’t get any better than the last, a day comes that is so surprising.  Today was one of those days.

Today was our day to do Niagara Falls.  Mr. S visited with our neighbors we camped next to last night.  They were from Whittier, California (our old home).  They are teachers traveling the United States this summer.  Only they are not members, so just the U.S. history parts, and they are doing it backwards from us, so all the things we are heading to they just left.  So Mr. S visited with them all morning while we made breakfast and got ready, and came back with all kinds of information that is going to help us on this trip.  They were very helpful and friendly.  They also gave us their suggestions on Niagara Falls so we took their suggestions and headed that way.

I don’t need to explain to anybody the significance of Niagara Falls.  It is one of the most beautiful natural wonders in North America.  As a child growing up in New York, I remember many trips to the falls, and I was excited to come back.

When we drove into the parking lot, we could see mists rising up in front of us.  It made me so excited, I wondered if it was as big as I remembered it, but all that mist reassured me it was everything that I recalled.  We started on Goat island, which has multiple views of the falls.  We took pictures, but you could tell the kids were not as excited about it.  It’s really too bad all the high tech things we have, I think sometimes kids just assume anything can be built or made, so natural wonders just don’t seem as wonderous as they used to in the “olden days”.

We walked into the gift shop, and in there they were playing a movie on one wall talking about all the daredevils that have tried things at Niagara Falls.  The kids watched that for a little bit.  Then after I had gotten some information from the clerks we headed out.

So the two big things you hear about that people do at Niagara Falls are the Maid of Mists boats and the Cave of Winds.  The Maid of Mists boats are the boats that ride right up to the bottom of the falls.  People can get quite wet and see the falls up close.

BEFORE photo: heading to the “Cave of Winds”

The Cave of Winds is a place where you can hike down some stairs near a section of the falls, and they let you get so close, the winds just push you around and you can get soaking wet from the falls.  For a large family all of that can be spendy, so I asked the clerks what they recommended.  Both young male clerks said, definetly the Cave of Winds.  The Maid of Mists they said was a leisurely calm boat ride, but the Cave of Winds had the action.  So knowing their recommendation would probably be the most accurate of what my crew would like we decided the Cave of Winds would be

Cave of Winds, kids playing

what we did at Niagara Falls.

They give you ponchos and sandals to wear, and you just walk down these stairs, that can I say, hardly look like they can hold us.  It looks very precarious, but it must work.  I trust the legal systems sue happy society would never let anything like this exist in a dangerous manner, so I knew I was safe, even though it did look quite rickety.

AFTER photo at the Cave of Winds

We walked down the stairs and it was so beautiful!  No pictures could do what we saw any justice.  Then we started walking back up.  The closer you get to the falls the thicker the mists get.  You can control how close you get, so Mr. S who really doesn’t like to get wet, had slightly damp hair.  The rest of us water lovers, well we were drenched every inch, we had nothing  dry when we were done.  It was very fun.  The little kids were dancing and jumping as the rebounding falls were blowing and spewing all over them.  They just loved it.  And the teenage boys loved it to, standing against the strongest winds and water with big grins on their faces.  We stayed a lot longer than most, but I figure everyone was having fun so we were on that deck for probably 20 or 30 minutes.  It seems like most people were there for 5 minutes and left.  But we like to get all the fun we can out of everything, so we stayed as long as everyone wanted, and they all left with smiles.

Another thing they have that is very nice, is a trolley that will drive you all over the American side of the falls.  It drives you to all the sites, parking lots, and viewing points.  It was very inexpensive, and well worth paying for.  It got us around to all the corners of the park to take photos.

I’ve heard the Maid of Mist if very fun also, and they do have package deals.  But for us, Cave of Winds was enough, and made everyone feel like the trip to Niagara Falls was well worth it.

SIDE NOTE:  To get to the Canadian side these days you have to have a passport.  I think kids might be able to get across with birth certificates, but I was told that for sure adults have to have passports, which neither Mike or I have.  If you have the chance to come to Niagara Falls, and you have the money and the time to get passports…I would definitely do it.  I didn’t mention it to my family because I didn’t want to sound like the part of Niagara Falls we did wasn’t great, because if that’s all you can see (which it was for us) than it is well worth it.  But if you can get to the Canadian side.  I think it is much better!  All the best photos I saw in the gift shop were from the Canadian side.  And I remember even though I was a child, what the Canadian side looked like.  And they do have the better view.  And I even though it’s very commercial, I think they have made the Canadian side very fun!  I missed not being able to do it.  But, having said that…what we did was very fun, and even if it’s all we could do, it was well worth our time and money.  The kids loved it!
SOMETHING WE MISSED:  Niagara Falls turns on colored lights on the falls at night between 9pm and midnight.  I guess it’s very beautiful.  We showed up at midnight the first night (and we weren’t aware of it anyways) and then left in the afternoon.  So if you are planning a trip, planning around working around being there at 9pm will give you two views of the falls at night and in the day.

Post NOTE:  On the 18th we were doing a tour with another group who told us, they just asked, and they were able to get across.  They only had one passport, and the rest had their drivers licenses.  So maybe it’s worth a try?

Liberty Building, Buffalo, NY

After Niagara Falls we asked the kids what they wanted to do, and they said that they wanted to walk around Buffalo.  So we drove back to Buffalo and walked around.  That was very disappointing.  We went to downtown Buffalo, because from the views off the road the buildings downtown were beautiful.  We got down there and walked around.  The buildings were very beautiful and old.  It seemed like it should have been an amazing city, but it felt dead.  There was hardly anybody on the streets.  When you compared it to Chicago that was jam packed wall to wall, Buffalo looked anorexic.

Buffalo is the city in front of Niagara Falls, how could it look so dead.  If I had to guess, by what we saw, I’d say almost 40% of the buildings were empty.  It was unbelievable, and scary.  We have seen a lot of signs on this trip of hard times.  It worries me where we are going, and I don’t think people have any idea what is going to hit us.  Between the droughts and the dead crops we’ve seen since Ohio…to Buffalo looking abandoned, it really is alarming…Anyways, after walking around and looking at the beautiful architecture, there was really nothing to do there, so we left.

I did insist that we couldn’t leave Buffalo without eating Buffalo Chicken Wings.  We are huge fans in our home.  My parents raised us on Buffalo Chicken Wings…the hotter the better.  I can’t stand it when we buy things at stores that claim to be Buffalo Chicken Wings.  They are nothing like what they should taste like, so we make them at home the right way.  Well I was excited to find out at the restaurant, we do make them the real Buffalo way.  We felt right at home.

Please don’t mention to the teenagers that I posted this picture…but it was good enough messy faces were overlooked…

We asked a couple of locals what they recommended.  Multiple people told us that Anchor Bar was the original place that came up with Buffalo Chicken Wings, so we were heading there.  But the last local we asked when we were lost getting there said, we could go there if wanted.  They are known just because they started it, but they weren’t the best, and they were overpriced.  So if we wanted great Buffalo Chicken Wings we should go to Duff’s on Sheridan Drive.

Well, I have no comparison, as I haven’t eaten at Anchor’s, but Duff’s was fabulous.  A couple of the kids said it ranked as one of their favorite things they had done that day.  And between the “Cave of Winds” and Duff’s Buffalo was one of their favorite stops so far.  We tried their Mild, Medium and Hot.  The restaurant says that Medium was very hot, and it got hotter from there.  I am proud to say that I have raised my family to be true to my childhood home.  We all loved the Hot!  And even when we ordered fries, the boys were dipping their fries in the leftover sauce.  It was great!  Spitz decided he liked it so much he bought a shirt, so he could advertise for one of his new favorite places to eat.

7864 North Main, in Fishers, NY (home was built by Brigham Young)

After Buffalo, NY we had on our itinerary to go to Mendon, NY.  I will admit, I wasn’t sure about this stop.  Brigham Young’s family and Heber C Kimball come from Mendon.  This is the town they lived in, this is the town that they were introduced to the church and later baptized in.  I had a book that listed some addresses we could drive by and look at, but that was about all.  I didn’t know if it was worth it, but being this close, I figured why not.  It turned out to be so amazing!

First we drove by 7864 North Main, in Fishers, NY. It is said that this home was

7868 North Main is a home that is it believed that Brigham cut and glazed the windows on the east side of this 1811 two story home. It is believed that early missionaries held meetings in this home.

built by Brigham Young.  Here is a photo of the home.

The house next door, 7868 North Main is a home that is it believed that Brigham cut and glazed the windows on the east side of this 1811 two story home.  It is believed that early missionaries held meetings in this home.  Both homes are privately owned and not available for tours.  But I do have photos : )

Phineas Young’s home 8026 North Main Street

The next home we went by was supposed to have been Phineas Young’s home for a short time.  It was at 8026 North Main Street.   Phineas was the first to receive the Book of Mormon, read it and then share it with his family.  I will talk more about it later.  This home is privately owned and not available for tours.

Next we were trying to get to Mendon to look at John Young’s home (Brigham Young’s father).  It’s funny how the things that turn out to be the coolest usually start out being so stressful, you almost want to quit.  It’s amazing how the adversary works.

We couldn’t find the house, we got stuck in construction.  I thought it was just on the other side of the road construction.  We were turning around to try to figure out how to get there, when a woman drove up and asked if she could help us.  She circled us around an area and got us onto the street I thought we were supposed to be.  We went back to the site I thought it was on, at this point Mr. S was hot and tired and kind of looking at me like he seriously didn’t think this photo op was worth all this work.  We got out of the motorhome, everyone tense, to walk down the street to find the home and realized we were on the right street but very far away from the correct address.  So we got back in the motorhome and started driving again.  I think at this point everyone was getting angry with me, and I was feeling quite discouraged.  We were looking for a house with no address just cross streets that our GPS told us didn’t exist.

Tom Tomlinson Inn

Right about the time I was going to say forget it, we drove right by the house.  I yelled for Mr. S to stop the motorhome and jumped out on the highway running down the road to get my photo taken.  As I’m across the street taking pictures of the house, I see a woman in a missionary badge come out.  I remembered that the book I had said that the church owned this home.  So I asked her if she lived there.  She told me she did, and that her husband was just giving tours if we wanted one.  He wasn’t at her home (which was John Young ‘s home, but he was down the street at the Tomlinson Inn (which was the next place on our list).  She called him, and let him know we were coming, and told us he would give us a personal tour of the Tomlinson Inn.  How cool is that!

This Senior missionary knew so much about the history of these homes, and was so great at retelling what happened.  I am going to tell the story he told, because I have not heard it before.  So here is what he said…

He took us in the original dining or gathering area at the old inn.  He said that in the room Samuel Smith (Joseph Smith’s brother) was

The dining room where Samuel Smith gave the Book of Mormon to Phineus Young. The senior missionary had the kids acting out the part.

sent from Palmyra (only about 18 miles away) to go through the countryside and do missionary work, and give out the copies of the first edition of the Book of Mormon that they had printed.  So Samuel came to that Inn and asked Phineas Young if he would like to purchase a Book of Mormon.  Well he was selling the Book of Mormon for $1.75 per copy, which in those days was two days wages.  You do the math using your wages…I can’t believe he bought it.  I’d have to think long and hard about buying a book that I didn’t know much about for that price!  But Phineas was also a part time traveling minister, and he thought that it probably wasn’t true, but he should purchase one to prove it.

Barn that Samuel Smith slept in

So Phineas purchased a Book of Mormon.  That night he slept in the barn at the Inn (which is still there and so cool … we got a tour of it, with bats flying around the top and all.  The barn could hold 10 wagons at one time, it was amazing to see…but I digress).  So after spending the night, he went home and told his wife he needed to sit down and read this book to prove that it wasn’t true.  So she needed to give him a week to spend studying it.

So after a week studying it, he realized he couldn’t believe how it matched up so well with his studies of the Bible.  So he told his wife he needed another week to study this because surely this couldn’t be true.  So for another week he studied the Book of Mormon.  At the end of the week, he couldn’t believe what he had learned.  So on Sunday he preached a sermon using the Book of Mormon and the Bible, and the congregation told him it was the best sermon he had ever preached.  Later on over half his congregation was baptized.

Then Phineas’s father John asked for it, and that one Book of Mormon got passed to his sister, then Brigham Young, then it was passed through the family, and then to Heber C. Kimball.  And yet no one was baptized.  I guess Samuel Smith went back to Palmyra, and because of persecution and other things going on, no more missionaries were sent.

But it turns out that Joseph Smith had sent missionaries earlier to Pennsylvania, and they had baptized a handful in Pennsylvania.  That congregation was so excited about the gospel they had decided to send out their own missionaries.  So even though Mendon is about 18 miles from Palmyra, it was missionaries from Pennsylvania over 120 miles away that came to teach in the town.  But for some reason no one was baptized.  A year later, those same missionaries from Pennsylvania came back again, but no one was baptized again.  But by the third year, the Young’s decided this was ridiculous, and I think it was Phineas and John Young that went back to Pennsylvania (not Palmyra) to find those missionaries so they could be baptized.  They brought the missionaries back and that year all these people in Mendon started getting baptized, including Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball.

After letting us tour the Inn, and showing us all the original parts of it (including the part of the inn that ended up being used for service meetings), he invited us back to his home – John Young’s home.  In his home he showed us a notebook he was keeping with important stories.  One was an article written by someone who had lived in the Tomlinson Inn, “Living in a Chapter of History” written by Marjorie Rice in the Ensign Oct. 2007.

This is half of Joseph Young’s Home. His home was in middle of where they wanted to put a road, so later residences took part of the home and placed it across the street. So there is 1/2 of his home on each side of the street.

He also showed us an account written by Heber C Kimball of a vision he had seen in the skies in Mendon.  He told me I could have a copy of it, and I forgot to get it, I hope to get it tomorrow.  Then he showed us a guest book the previous owner had kept when she had let people tour her home.  She had some prominent visitors including President Kimball tour her home.   How cool it is when people recognize the value of what they have and preserve it for us.

It was getting dark at that point and they asked us if we had a place to stay, which we hadn’t found one yet.  So they gave us permission to park on their property.  So tonight we are sleeping on the land that was Brigham Young’s fathers.  How cool is that!  He said that he was giving another tour in the morning at 8:30am, and we were invited to come with them so we could get better photos in the daylight.

I can’t believe how blessed we have been on this trip.  Things that we would never expected have been happening.  We are learning so much.  But my favorite thing is to see how good people are.  There are so many good people we have met, that have made our trip so amazing.  It’s really been one of God’s tender mercies on this trip.  What an amazing day this turned out to be!

Summary of Day 19
Drove:  138 miles

Places we visited or saw: Niagara Falls, “Cave of Winds”, Duff’s ,Buffalo NY, 7864 North Main, in Fishers, NY (home was built by Brigham Young), 7868 North Main (believed that early missionaries held meetings in this home), Phineas Young’s 8026 North Main Street, John Young’s Home, Tom Tomlinson Inn, across the street Heber C Kimball home site, Camped at John Young’s home.

Favorite thing we did today:
Spitz and Jawbreaker: Duff’s and Cave of the Winds
Bazooka: Duff’s the vats in Tomlinson Inn Barn, and Cave of the Winds
Warhead: Cave of the Winds
Starburst: Seeing the bats, Duffs, and Mendon
Fireball:  Bats in Tomlinson Inn Barn and Duffs
Mr. S: Cave of the Winds and Duffs
Mrs. S:  Getting a personal tour of Mendon, NY

DAY 18 – July 16, 2012 – John Johnson’s Home, Amish Country, Cheese Factory, and Kenmore, NY

Today was less scheduled than most of our days, but it turned out to be so amazing! We started off by visiting the John Johnson Farm, in Hiram, OH. So many things happened there. It’s amazing how one home could hold so much history. It was a wonderful, peaceful place, and it ended our visit to Kirtland beautifully.

There was a brochure saying that the largest Amish Community in the U.S. is in Ohio.  And we could pass through a part of it if we went through Middlefield, OH.  So we decided to drive through on our way to New York. We saw farms where the Amish had hand cut the hay and stacked it in piles. There were buggies riding down the street, and Amish riding scooters that looked like altered bicycles. It was fun to explain to our younger kids about their culture and religion. They’ve seen so many people dressed as pioneers lately, it was hard for them to believe they weren’t just play acting, and that they really lived like that.

Then we headed to the Middlefield Cheese factory. One family trip I took as a teenager was to the cheese factory in Nampa, ID. I always tell the kids about not eating all day, and then buying squeaky cheese and jerky, and eating so much I was sick the rest of the day. So having not done that since my teenage years, we decided to give our kids that opportunity, and had lunch on squeaky cheese and jerky. But apparently my kid’s stomachs are tougher than mine, because they all thought it was fabulous.

Then we headed to New York. One of my favorite things about being back east is we jump from state to state so fast, we feel way more accomplished at the end of the day than we do traveling back West!

I was raised in Buffalo, New York during my elementary school years. We lived in a suburb just outside of Buffalo called Kenmore. All of the children in our family that lived there, have such fond memories of our home and friends. Our parents have told us we have totally romanticized the whole place…that no our house wasn’t a castle even though it had four stories, and the streets weren’t paved of gold. But for us children, there are no better memories, and I was so anxious to go back and see.

We drove down our street and I was so disappointed…I know I love to remodel homes, but for

Old home in Kenmore, NY

heavens sakes, no one buying any house I grew up in as a child should be allowed to touch it! How can you remodel the porch, or add a deck to the back yard, or change it from the beautiful forest green color it once was! I had to call my sister to verify my memory wasn’t wrong on the address. The home is beautiful, but it looked so different. I was slightly sad about that.

A neighbor came out and started talking with us. He said he moved in about the summer that we left, so he could answer all the questions I had. Apparently our dear rascal friend Sarah B, who was constantly going home to tell on us, still has her dad living 2 doors down from us. And my best friend Elizabeth H’s parents still live in their home. So of course I had to go knock on their doors! I talked to Sarah’s dad, and apparently she told on us enough times he remembered me : )

Best friends home

The H’s weren’t home, but I asked my daughter to sit on their porch so I could take a photo, and then it just hit me…growing up my whole life, one of my most favorite names was Elizabeth. I never really thought of the origin of that, I just always knew I loved that name. Well, that is my daughters middle name, and as she was sitting on my best friends step, I realized that I always loved that name, because I always loved my dear friend Elizabeth. I basically named my daughter after her, without even realizing it. She was a tall slender girl with beautiful brown hair. And there is my daughter with similar features sitting on her step. It made me wish her parents had been there to say hi. Even today, there is a certain dog I love, that I’m always begging Mr. S to get me, and I realized all the dogs I love are the dogs that look like her dog Cocoa. It’s funny what an impact things can have on you as a child, that you don’t even realize.

The neighbors told me how to find all the things I remembered. Around the corner and down

Keener’s, once a penny candy store, now a home

four blocks was a little store that sold penny candy (now that truly makes me sound old!). It was run by a bunch of grumpy old ladies, but the candy was cheap, and we were always so excited when mom would let us walk to Keener’s. Well apparently someone decided to turn it into a home. My younger children were very bummed, the idea of penny candy just boggled their minds.

Lindbergh Elementary 2012

Then we headed to my elementary, Lindbergh Elementary School that I remember walking to in some of the most ridiculous weather that Buffalo has to offer. I can trump walking up hill both ways to school, because here I walked to school with snow piled miles high in blizzards! It was fun to spend the evening with a friend later who verified to my children, whatever your mom said about the weather…it’s all true! The school looks just the same. It was very fun to see.

Then I had to take the kids to one of the streets made of brick. I remember as a child thinking brick streets were the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. My kids weren’t as amazed with it as I always was. But it was fun to see.

We were going to head to the campground, but I had been carrying a phone number of one of my mother’s best friends with me for days, but had been scared to call. I had gotten the number off the internet and didn’t know how to start this conversation telling her who I was and trying to verify who she was and if I got the right person. But she was such a close family friend when we had lived in New York 30 years ago, and I so wanted to see her. I made the call, and sure enough I found the right person. She was better than my memories, and all the stories I’ve heard my mom tell, all made more sense, because she was just as amazing as we all remembered.

Mr. and Mrs. P were so gracious. We showed up spontaneously, after a very busy couple of weeks for them, but they invited us in, and we sat in their backyard and talked way longer than I had expected to stay. But it was so fun to hear how all our childhood friends (their children) were doing. We had so many great friends in Buffalo. It was the same place my siblings and I romanticized in our youth. It was wonderful to come back.

Summary of Day 18

This is some information about the amazing things that happened in Kirtland

Drove: 254 miles
Places we visited or saw: John Johnson Home, Amish country in Middlefield, OH, Cheese Factory, Hiram College (where President Garfield attended and taught), Kenmore NY, Keener’s, Lindbergh Elementary, and Mr. and Mrs. P’s home.

Favorite thing we did today:
Jawbreaker: Cheese Factory or Hiram College
Spitz: Mr. and Mrs. P’s Home
Bazooka: Kenmore (mom’s home)
Warhead: Mr. and Mrs. P’s Home
Starburst: Kenmore and Mr. and Mrs. P’s Home
Fireball: Mr. and Mrs. P’s Home
Mr. S: John Johnson Home
Mrs. S: All of it!

DAY 17 – July 15, 2012 – Kirtland, Ohio

We started the day going to church at the Kirtland Ward.  There were motorhomes lined up in the parking lot.  The poor Kirtland Ward was overrun by visitors.  They were all so sweet.  The church was filled through the chapel to the back of the gym with visitors.

While we were there we saw signs talking about the play they put on.  I have never heard of it before, and we were so bummed to find out we missed it by one day.  Apparently the Kirtland Stake puts on a play about Kirtland History.  This year it was done Friday and Saturday during the month of July.  And we missed it by a day!  Darn.  So when you are coming to Kirtland, time it to see their play.  The website is:  http://www.thisiskirtland.com/

At 11:30am the church Historical Sites are open on Sunday, which was a very nice way to spend our Sabbath.  We toured the Kirtland Ashery, Isaac Morley Farm, John Johnson Home, Johnson Inn Resource Center, Newel K. Whitney Store, Newel K. and Elizabeth Ann Whitney Home, Kirtland Sawmill, and the Kirtland Schoolhouse.  I won’t go into all the details involving Kirtland, but I think we all didn’t realize how significant Kirtland was.  Some very significant events happened here.  We knew quite a few of them, but there were some things we were amazed to learn.  Kirtland is a very special place.  It was an amazing day to spend our Sunday here.

After touring the Kirtland Visitor’s Center we drove up the hill to visit the Kirtland Temple.  It’s owned by the Community of Christ church.  What a monument the saints left.  They spent $40,000 to build their first temple.  With only 2000 members in Kirtland, my mind can’t even wrap around that cost (which is equivalent to $16 million…I think is what they said)!  What a sacrifice for those people.  I don’t think it’s possible to come to Nauvoo or Kirtland, and not have your testimony grow in the importance of temples.  Nobody sacrificed more than the Saints in Kirtland and Nauvoo to build temples once again on the earth.

After our tours, my sister’s brother-in-law and sister-in-law invited us to stay with them at their home.  Can you imagine taking 8 ragamuffins into your home that you’ve never met?  They are the sweetest family, and we have thoroughly enjoying the time we have spent with them.

I’m having too much fun with our new friends to stop and write much more.  But I will say, Ohio is so beautiful and green, and Kirtland is so incredible, it’s not a place that should be missed on any trip.

Summary of Day 17
Drove:  90
Places we Visited: the Kirtland Ward, Kirtland Ashery, Isaac Morley Farm, John Johnson Home, Johnson Inn Resource Center, Newel K. Whitney Store, Newel K. and Elizabeth Ann Whitney Home, Kirtland Sawmill, and the Kirtland Schoolhouse, Kirtland Temple, Mr and Mrs. F’s Home
Everyone’s favorite thing about Kirtland:
Jawbreaker: School of the Prophets
Spitz: Kirtland Temple
Bazooka:  Parley’s Wife’s Grave
Warhead: Whitney Store
Starburst: Cemetary
Fireball:  Staying at Mr. and Mrs. F’s Home
Mr. and Mrs. S: All of it!

DAY 13 – July 11, 2012 – Goodbye Nauvoo

Today is our last day in Nauvoo.  We have done almost everything there is to do here,  but there are two vignettes we hadn’t seen, and we decided to go back to the fair, and the pageant.  So we stayed over today.

This morning we went to the Old Nauvoo Burial grounds.  It was very remote and peaceful.  We walked through the cemetery, and read the names of the people buried there.  I saw a couple of family names and wondered if we had family in Nauvoo, so I started thinking I wanted to check on that.

We left to go sit in the park across the street from the Old Mansion House.  There, the couple that play Emma and Joseph Smith in the pageant came and shared with us old letters that Emma and Joseph had written to each other.  It was so touching, and they did an amazing job.  I wish today we wrote more, and had written records as they did of their love for each other.  It was really beautiful.

We left the park, and I asked Mr. S if he could take us to the Lands and Records Office.  At the Lands and Records Office you can get on the computer and look up family names to see if they lived in Nauvoo.  Not only can you look up names, but if they have any photos or histories, for a dollar they will burn a CD for you.  It was pure luck I just happened to have my computer with all our family history on it, so I brought my computer in and started looking.

If I were to make a recommendation, I think the easiest way to be prepared would be to have family pedigree charts printed.  You will be looking for ancestors that would have been alive during the Nauvoo years (1839-1846).  I spent 2 or 3 hours there, partly because I wasn’t quite prepared, and because I wanted to make sure I checked absolutely every family member I was aware of.   I found between 20-30 names of family that were in Nauvoo.  I have addresses for 6 of them in Nauvoo City.  One of my family members owned the land where the Community of Christ’s Visitor Center is now, just down the street from Joseph and Emma’s Mansion Home.  (Above is a map with some of our family addresses we found, I transposed it onto the historic map so you can see how close they were to things in Nauvoo).  It really made Nauvoo feel a part of us.

Because I got caught up in family history, Mr. S and the kids went to the vignette on the King Follett Discourse.  They met in the Nauvoo Groves, the same place where Joseph Smith used to give outdoor sermons.  Mr. S said it was really great.

They came back to pick me up and we drove around looking at our family’s old homesteads in Nauvoo.  It was such a great way to end the trip, and made the place that we love feel even more like home, if that was even possible.

Then we took our kids back to the Frontier Country Fair.  Fireball told me he thought it was the best day of his life.  Not a bad recommendation for the fair : )   This is what they had going on all at the same time, and all for free: Stilt Walking, Hopps/Graces, The Highland Fling, Tug-o-war, Sack Races, Puppet Shows, Log Saw, Log Branding, Handcarts, Parlor Games, Quilting, Dancing, Rag Tying, Stick Pull, and Stick Ball.

There were also children’s games and crafts: which included prairie doll making, sock puppets, and barretts…And did I mention that at the Stick Pull the actor playing Brigham and the actor playing Joseph where there.  It was such a fun atmosphere.  The funny thing was “Joseph” was beating everyone at stick pull.  It was as authentic as it could possibly be.  Little kids that were in the pageant (so they are dressed in pioneer clothes) where running in and out of the area, while Joseph kept throwing people over his shoulder at Stick pull.  Spitz got in line to challenge Joseph.  How many of us can say that we did stick pull with Joseph Smith?  But right before his turn came they had to leave to start the pageant.

During the fair we ran into all our friends all over again.  I just kept thinking of the section in the Doctrine and Covenants which says, “that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there” (referring to heaven).  I’m so glad, because those “socialities” have been some of the highlights of our trip so far.

We ended the night by watching the Nauvoo Pageant for a second time.  Everyone agreed we liked it even better the second time.  It was amazing.  We will miss Nauvoo…

 

 

 

Summary of Day 13

Places we visited: Old Nauvoo Burial grounds, Lands and Records Office, Frontier Country Fair, and watched the King Follett Discourse, and Emma and Joseph’s Letters Vignette’s and Nauvoo Pageant

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

 

DAY 12 – July 10, 2012 – Nauvoo, a Beautiful Place

We woke up early again, but this time to do the Carriage Ride.  The carriage ride is a country ride.  They tell lots of pioneer stories as you ride through the country part of town.  It is actually my favorite of the rides.  The wagon ride is informative about the town, but the carriage ride is about the people.  It was one of my favorite things we have done.

After the carriage ride we went to the home of Sarah Granger Kimball.  I have been very excited to go to her home.  I have sometimes heard that some think that women don’t have a place in our church.  Which as an active member, I can hardly even fathom anyone who participates believing that is true.  I have hardly known more strong-willed, influential, intelligent women than I have seen, met, and studied about in the church, and Sarah Kimball is on that list.

Sarah married a man who wasn’t a member of the church.  In those days the money a husband made wasn’t the wife’s, it was the husbands.  So although her husband was wealthy and she was able to buy whatever she needed, she was not able to pay tithing, since it was his money and he was not a member.  This distressed her a great deal.  From her house she has a perfect view of the temple (I have included a photo from one of the many windows she had facing the temple).  She watched the temple being built and knew of the sacrifice that everyone else was making to pay tithing.  Some with money, and many with work or donations.  She felt like she didn’t have a part.  One day her seamstress was at her house and telling her she wished that she had money enough that she could contribute to the temple.  So Sarah proposed that she would buy the material if her seamstress would sew shirts to donate to the temple workers.  They started telling some of the other women in the area, and they got together and decided to form a women’s society.  Eliza R. Snow wrote the bi-laws, and then they presented them to Joseph Smith.

Like most things that happen with the Lord.  He has so many things He wants to give us, but we have to ask first.  So Joseph took the idea to the Lord, and came back and told the women that the Lord wanted them organized officially in the church.  It was the beginning of the Relief Society, one of the oldest women’s organizations in the world.

And Sarah Kimball started it all.  She was a suffragist, an advocate of women’s rights, ward Relief Society president for forty years, and a strong presence in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for much of the nineteenth century.  She saw little discrepancy between her devotion to the Church and her dedication to women’s rights, since Joseph Smith’s “turning of the key” of power to women in 1842 had, in her view, led to the beginnings of the national women’s rights movement.

When Sarah’s home was restored, and dedicated, Barbara Smith, the General President of the Relief Society said, “We want the world to know that something big can come of something small.  We hope women will understand that within their own homes things can happen that can have great significance in the Church and in the world.”   That is what I love about Sarah.  Instead of feeling helpless in her situation, she got an idea, that turned into something that has blessed millions of people all over the world.

After Sarah’s we went to Pioneer Pastimes Park.  Here they have costumes and games for kids to play.  They are all pioneer games, and

This game is known as Fox and Geese, or sometimes known as jumper. I don’t want to brag…but I am phenomenal at this, so are Bazooka and Starburst…guess we should have been pioneers

they were so fun.  All of our kids, older and younger, played for quite a while.  After an hour and a half we left so the boys could get ready to go to the temple.

Today was so amazing.  I think this must be what heaven will feel like.  Tonight we were sitting at the dinner table talking about our favorite plays, and the kids started referring to the actors/missionaries by their names.  It kind of startled me, that we had been here long enough to know the missionaries here.  Then later tonight we were racing to a play, and all the senior missionaries were standing outside of the building waiting to perform, and a couple of them got so excited when they saw us, and started waiving and telling us they were so excited we were there.  Then we sat and watched all these senior missionaries we have visited with as they sang and danced.  It felt like we were just sitting among friends.

Next to us in the audience was a couple that we had met today at the Nauvoo temple.  They grew up near Mr. S’s hometown, and now live near my old home town.  He’s a school teacher and they had been saving to bring their kids to Nauvoo also, before their kids were grown and gone.  We had visited earlier waiting outside the temple, and had fun visiting before and after the show.

Before the evening play we went to called “Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo” (which was fabulous), we went to the old-time fair, which was phenomenal.  We will definitely be going back tomorrow.  While we were there we ran into Mr. S’s cousin and one of our good friends from California.  The whole day felt like it was either visiting with new friends, or having reunions with old friends.  It was so much fun!

Before Baptisms in the Nauvoo Temple

We went to the Nauvoo temple today.  The boys did baptisms with Mr. S.  While they were doing baptisms, the little kids loved “Just Plain Anna Amanda” so much we went back to watch it again.  The actors are so talented, they all take turns doing different parts, so it was fun to see the play again with different actors.

The boys came back and said they loved doing baptisms.  They thought it was one of their favorite temples they have been in.

Then Mr. S and I did an endowment session.  Afterwards while we were sitting in the temple, my emotions suddenly surfaced as I realized what a big deal it was to be sitting in the Nauvoo temple.  So many people sacrificed so much, including their lives to build this temple.  To be in this beautiful (I think THE most beautiful) temple, rebuilt that so many people had sacrificed to build.  It just made me so appreciative of what we have been blessed with.  We take for granted being able to build temples, these people didn’t.  What a blessing to have temples near us, and what a blessing to be in this temple.

In the pageant, and the surrounding pageant events, it was apparent that they wanted us to realize that we are a part of this.  These are our relatives, they are a part of us and who we are.  I got the concept, but the impact of it hit me in the temple.  I don’t know how the rest of the trip will go.  I love Washington DC, but I can’t imagine being any happier or enjoying anything more than this time I have spent in Nauvoo.  It’s been beautiful, which I guess is fitting…Nauvoo means “beautiful place”.

Summary of Day 12

Places we visited: Carriage Ride, Pioneer Park Pastimes, Just Plain Anna Amanda, Nauvoo Temple Baptisms and Endowment, Frontier Fair, Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo

DAY 11 – July 9, 2012- More of Nauvoo

Petting horses before the wagon ride

Today we were up by 6am so we could ride the early morning Wagon Ride at 7am.  It’s a free 1 hour tour of Nauvoo, and it’s a must do, and right away.  It is a great introduction to all the city sites.  After the wagon ride we road a short wagon ride with oxen pulling it.  The kids loved it, and we learned the history of why the pioneers used oxen rather than horses to cross the plains.  I was surprised, although I shouldn’t have been about Mr. S’s interest in the oxen.  He sat and talked to the men about raising oxen and using them for a while.

Then we went down to the corner of Main and Kimball to hear the young missionaries do a historical vignette on the Youth of Zion.  I can’t believe how talented they are!  They showed us how the whittling brigade worked, they did a handful of fun pieces, nursery rhymes, primary songs.  They talked about the bravery and faith of the youth in Nauvoo, and talked about how our youth today would be the heroes of tomorrow.  It was very touching.  I don’t know how I can say it was one of my favorite ones, because I like so many.  But I wouldn’t have missed it.

Afterwards the young missionaries talked to us for a while, which they do at most shows.  But since the early morning wasn’t crowded we were able to visit for a while.  One of the sister missionaries is a cousin to the little girl in Fireball’s class at school, that he totally has a crush on.  It always amazes me what a small world it is.

We had tours of the print shop, John Taylor’s home, the Post Office, the Tin Shop, and Brownings Home and Gunsmith Shop.  I love how at each stop they teach you so much about how things worked.  We saw every step of putting a newspaper together, talked about how the mail was delivered, and watched them go through the steps of making a metal cake pan in the tin shop.

The boys have been talking about getting into the Gunsmith Shop since we got here.  They were all beaming from ear to ear.  John Browning who owned the gunsmith shop in Nauvoo is the father of John Moses Browning who is famous worldwide for his guns.  My boys were rattling off all the guns he patented, but I’m sorry it doesn’t mean anything to me, so I can’t repeat it on the blog, but apparently it’s really cool : )  They all insisted of photos throughout the shop.

After the gunsmith shop we had lunch and hurried to the Cultural Hall to watch “Plain Old Anna Amanda”.  It was such a cute play!  They had all the children sit up front, and brought out puppets and sang with the kids in the beginning.  They were so cute with all the children, and they just ate it up.  Then the play started, and it was a play geared to the kids.  But it was very funny, and very fun to see the kids so enthralled.  We liked it so much, I think I will bring the younger kids back to it to watch it again tomorrow.  But if you ask the older boys, don’t let them fool you, they claim it was just alright, but they were laughing pretty hard themselves during the show.

After the play we went to the Family Living Center.  In that building they teach you more pioneer skills.  They showed us how to make rag rugs, candles, bread in a fireplace, pottery, rope making, barrel making (cooperage), weaving and spinning.  They make most of those things in front of you while they talk about it.  They were great hands on demonstrations.

Then we headed out to more tours.  We saw the Bakery, and then headed to Brigham Young’s home.  They said that there is a statue in Washington DC in honor of him being one of the greatest colonizers of the West.  It’s in the Capital Rotunda, so if we get a chance we are going to go see that while we are there.

We walked through a drug and variety store.  They talked a little about bee keeping, and it was very interesting.  I think we got on that topic when we were talking about things they sold there, and they had a contraption that caught bees.  And we ended that part of the day by touring a school room.

After the catchup break of laundry and dinner, we headed back to watch the Nauvoo Pageant.  They have a dress rehearsal the day before the official pageant starts, and that is what we attended tonight.  We had heard it was a much smaller crowd.  But we did like it enough that we will be going back again

You can see the top of the Nauvoo Temple behind the cast of the pageant. It is beautiful to see in the background during the pageant.

on Wednesday.

Alva Benson

Before the pageant they have a whole country fair, which they didn’t have during their dress rehearsal, and we want the kids to be able to go to the fair, so we will be back for that also.  One thing they were working on when we got there was a booth they have, where you tell them your family names and they can look up if you are related to anyone in the pageant.  The man setting up wanted to test it on Mr. S and I.  Turns out Mr. S is Eliza R. Snows 2^nd cousin 5 times removed.  His 4^th great grandpa Alva Benson was 2^nd cousins to Eliza R. Snow.  She is one of the most celebrated LDS women.  A renowned poet, writer and leader.

Isaac Cook

And Joseph and Hyrum Smith are my 4^th cousins 5 times removed.  Isaac Cook, my great great great grandpa was 4^th cousins to Joseph and Hyrum Smith.  Obviously this is very distant.  But our kids were excited to see that.  They gave us a list of a handful of people that are portrayed in the pageant that we are related to.  I guess it’s a new online site.  It’s called NauvooPageantCousins.org.  So anyone that wants to can go through and check it out.  Our family enjoyed seeing the different relations.

(The photos included of our ancestors are my own, not the churches, I am a collector of photos…I love that when I talk about an ancestor I know there faces).

Well it’s a late night.  My kids say I blog too late in the night when they are trying to sleep, so I will write more later.  We are having a great time.  We are running into people all over the place too.  Today we sat near the parents of one of the men Mr. S has worked with at church.  I saw a family from my high school years, and we ran into a family we met when the kids were doing baptisms at the Winter Quarters temple, they met up with us here.  Actually they are going to be in the pageant on Wednesday.

Very fun day.  So until tomorrow…

Summary of Day 11

Places we visited:  Wagon Ride around Nauvoo, Oxen ride, tours of the print shop, John Taylor’s home, the Post Office, the Tin Shop, and Brownings Home and Gunsmith Shop,Family Living Center, the Bakery, Brigham Young’s home, drug and variety store, and the school room

Watched:  Youth of Zion, Plain Old Anna Amanda, Nauvoo Pageant

DAY 10 – July 8, 2012 – Nauvoo is for Everyone

We went to church today in Nauvoo.  It’s a totally different experience from Martin’s Cove.  They encourage those visiting to just go to sacrament, because they don’t have a way to teach everyone Sunday School and Relief Society/Priesthood.  So we went to sacrament.  It was very full with missionaries and visiting families, and it was very nice. We had to get to church earlier than we are used too…8am, so we went home after sacrament to eat breakfast.  You can tour the Nauvoo sites after 11am, so we went back and toured a handful of places.

We went to the Riser Boot and Shoe Shop.  They showed us how the pioneers made shoes; it was very detailed and interesting.  He also told the story about Brother Riser and his conversion.  It was a touching story.

Next we went to the Blacksmith shop.  Our kids really loved being there.  They showed us how they built wagons.  It was very detailed.  Afterwards they did some smithing for us, and took metal and made it into a horseshoe.  Bazooka got to keep it, and was really excited about that.  They also gave everyone prairie rings (rings made out of horse shoe nails).

Then we went to the Seventies Hall.  The history was great, and upstairs they had a small museum of artifacts they have found from digging in the Nauvoo area.  It was very fun to look at.  They also have a library of books upstairs that my kids were dying to look at, but all you can look at are the covers, the books are locked up.

We went to the Lucy Mack Smith home.  Most of the things inside are not hers, but it gives you an idea of the period pieces that would be in the homes at that time.  I love walking through old houses.

At the brickyard, they showed us in great detail how they make bricks.  Then we were given a Nauvoo brick to take home.  Our kids love knowing how things are done, so they really enjoyed the brickyard.

Wilford Woodruffs Home

We went to Heber C. Kimbal’s home and Wilford Woodruff’s.  It’s funny how different people enjoy different things.  I’d say this trip has really deepened my love and interest in Wilford Woodruff.  But I heard Spitz telling Mr. S that he loved Heber C. Kimbal’s home.

After all those visits we went back to the Visitors Center to watch a movie, “Joseph Smith-Prophet of the Restoration”.  It is one of the most thorough movies I have seen explaining Joseph Smith’s life.  It was very well done.

After that we headed to the Community of Christ Visitors Center (RLDS).  They own Joseph Smith’s Homestead, Mansion House, Nauvoo House, Red Brick Store, and the Smith Family Cemetery.  In Nauvoo everything is free that is owned by our church.  But you do have to pay for a tour of the Community of Christ’s sites, but it was minimal.  They showed us a movie about their church and Nauvoo history. Then let us tour the buildings they own.

I was thinking as we have been going through Nauvoo…about the people reading our blog.  I know we have friends and family that are Mormons, and many that are not.  But I will say, even if I wasn’t a member, Nauvoo is worth a stop.  It is so amazing, and everything is free.  The kids are learning so much about that time period and the pioneering lifestyle.   Before we are done we will have gone to 5 free amazing plays, a 1 hour wagon ride, a 45 minute carriage ride, oxen ride, learned to make candles, played games, gone to a country fair, and so much more.  Even the souvenirs are free…free miniature brick, prairie rings, bread tasting, gingerbread cookies…Nauvoo is really an amazing place.

We ended the night by going to “The Trail of Hope”.  That is not the phrase that comes to mind as you begin.  This is the walk down

Trail of Hope

Parley Street to the Mississippi.  The Saints have been kicked out of Kirtland, and Missouri.  By kicked out I mean chased out by mobs, beaten, and sometimes killed.  They come to a swamp infested land, and build a brand new city, Nauvoo.  It becomes one of the largest cities in Illinois.  They build their second temple, a city, and their homes.  Their prophet is killed after the governor had promised his protection, and now they are asking the Saints to leave.  They promise to leave in the Spring, but the mob gets so bad, they realize for the safety of the people they must leave now (February).  So the town starts building wagons, and people are lining Parley Street on their way to cross the Mississippi, to leave everything they have built, all their possessions and their homes.  The “Trail of Hope”…is not what comes to mind.

But we came tonight to hear from their own mouths (journal entries) what the pioneers said.  I couldn’t do it justice to explain it, but it was beautiful.  And in the end it was a trail of hope…It was a beautiful way to end the night.

Summary of Day 10
Places we visited:
Riser Boot and Shoe Shop, Blacksmith shop, Seventies Hall, Lucy Mack Smith home, Brickyard, Heber C. Kimbal’s and Wilford Woodruff’s home.  Watched a movie, “Joseph Smith-Prophet of the Restoration”.  Joseph Smith’s Homestead, Mansion House, Nauvoo House, Red Brick Store, and the Smith Family Cemetery.  Trail of Hope.

DAY 9 – July 7, 2012 – Nauvoo Play Day

Mr. S, acting as Superman always, woke up at 5am this morning to whisk us all away in our sleep to Nauvoo.  We made it there before lunch.  It was a super hot day.  One of the patrons said that the bank said 105 degrees, and with humidity…oh my goodness.  But we heard its supposed to drop to the 80’s this next week.  So today we opted to stay inside as much as possible.

We started by watching the play “High Hopes and Riverboats”.  It was so good.  But the best part was watching Starbursts face.  She was totally enthralled with the biggest grin from ear to ear.

When that was done we watched a 20 minute movie called “Remembering Nauvoo”, and then headed out to dinner.

After dinner we walked through the Women’s Garden, and then up to the temple.  It is very beautiful, and from the temple there is a gorgeous view of the Mississippi.  We went into the temple arrival center and visited with some local Nauvoo temple workers.  It was very interesting to talk with them about Nauvoo.

We came back to the Visitors Center to watch, “Sunset by the Mississippi”.  It was just a montage of skits, with the actor missionaries and the older couple missionaries…very cute.  They had a skit about eggs that my kids couldn’t quit talking about afterwards.

Both times Starburst went to talk to all the actors and actresses to tell them how great they did.  They are all on 3 month missions to be in Nauvoo.  Starburst was asking all the questions to figure it all out.  She was sooo cute.  She had 2 sister missionaries that she stuck to like glue in between the plays.  She can tell us their life history, and I’m afraid they know hers.  At one point she sat and talked about the gospel and their missions with them for almost an hour.

If there had to be a hot day, today was perfect for that.  The plays were great.  Even though everyone talks about all the things that you can do in Nauvoo, I am still amazed, it was so much more than I expected.  Can’t wait to start again tomorrow.

Summary of Day 9
Drove:  353 miles driven

Things we did in Nauvoo: Watched the play “High Hopes and Riverboats”, Movie “Remembering Nauvoo”, Play “Sunset by the Mississippi”, walked to the outside of the Nauvoo Temple, Visited Women’s Garden