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 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!