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 15 – July 13, 2012 – Springfield, IL – Abraham Lincoln

We did camp last night at New Salem and it was great.  The campgrounds are nice, large, and very shaded.  We woke up this morning and headed to Springfield.  We had planned to go to Clayville Historic Site in Pleasant Plains, Illinois.  I believe it is a smaller site similar to New Salem.  I don’t have the map in front of me, but I think it is on the way to Springfield, but having seen two “old cities”, I think we have covered that, we decided to go on.

When we got into Springfield the Visitors Center told us we should go straight to the Lincoln Home Visitors Center, because even though going to Lincolns Home is free, you do have to get tickets, and they run out sometimes.  So we went straight to the Lincoln Home Visitors Center.  We picked up tickets and also little booklets for our kids to be become Junior Park Rangers.  The booklet had some games that the kids had to do while we were touring, and if they finished they received little badges that they became Junior Park Rangers at the Lincoln Home.  They were very cute, and the younger kids were very intent on getting it.

They have vignettes and other events scheduled all week.  But glancing at the schedule, I would say their best events tend to be on Friday or Saturday.  So we were lucky to end up here on a Friday.

Our kids have been reading books like crazy in the motorhome, and they decided they hit the jackpot in Springfield.  Jawbreaker bought “The Price of Power” by Hersh and “Team of Rivals” by Goodwin.  Warhead bought “A History of the World in 100 Weapons” by McNab.  Their fun reading always boggles my mind.  But their names fit their reading interests I guess…

Lincolns Home

The Lincoln Home Visitors Center had a vignette with Mrs. Lincoln.  But our tickets overlapped the vignette, so we missed it and headed on the tour.  The tour is just for Lincolns home.  It isn’t long, but the rangers did a great job telling about the home, and helping the kids relate to what they were saying.  They were entertaining, and informative, and it was an enjoyable tour.

They have blocked off a small neighborhood surrounding the home that they are trying to restore.  Even though there are a handful of homes, there are only two others that you can go in.  They are not restored inside, but just museums with artifacts and plaques to read.  It was fine for the older ones, but the younger kids were very bored.  So we walked the street and looked at the architecture and headed on our way.

We headed to the Lincoln-Herndon Law Office.  I was excited for my kids to see the law office.  They are very interested in those types of things, but this turned out to be so disappointing, and it shouldn’t have been.   The highlights there are Lincolns Office, and the Courthouse that had many cases brought there, including (and this was a surprise to us) the Joseph Smith/Porter Rockwell trial over the attempted murder of Governor Boggs.

They had a tour guide that was really questionable, his name is Carl, so if you ever get him, ask for another tour guide!  He started out by talking about the buildings additions and tear downs and remodels.  It wasn’t very interesting.  Then he started talking about reported ghosts in the building.  He really talked about this for a while, which was kind of disappointing, since we were there to learn history not listen to ghost stories.  Then he started talking about rumors in town, and next thing he did was accuse Mary Lincoln of murdering their laundress over jealousy.  At that point, I was starting to get angry.  We’ve tried to explain to our kids, that just because somebody writes a book, or claims to be an expert in something doesn’t mean they are…there is so much crap out there.  Sometimes my kids have understood the point, but they are teenagers, who sometimes prefer to believe others over their parents, so I was really annoyed with this tour.  Even if the rumor existed, if there was no proof, please don’t talk about it on a historical tour!  I’m going to rant, because I can’t even begin to tell you how much this disturbs me today with how people cover history.

There is a lot of deconstructionism in history lessons today.  Historians, or “claimed tour guides” smear historical people by posing “a continuous critique”.  They want to lay low what was once high.  The steady flow of belittling and negative portrayals of American heroes is so destructive.  If we become a people that think nothing can be good, what is left for us to believe.  It seems our kids can tell us all the flaws of historical heroes, but know little of their values and virtues that honor or affirm them.  Okay there, now it’s been said.  But the tour didn’t end there.

Next he asked if there were any Mormons in the room.   We raised our hands, but he didn’t look our way, and it was apparent he didn’t see us.  I don’t know what that had to do with tour either, until he continued on.  He proceeded to tell us that he was told to ask that before he told this story…then starts to tell his version of the story of Joseph Smith coming to trial in that courtroom.  I very much understand that history can vary widely by the person telling it.  People’s views are different.  But similar to my feelings about Mary being accused of murdering an employed person in their home, rumors or feelings should not be a part of a historical tour.

The tour guide went on to tell the story of the Mormons being kicked out of Missouri with an extermination order from Governor Boggs.  Then he talked about them coming to Nauvoo and building the largest city in the state and having the largest militia.  Then he said that the Nauvoo militia went down and tried to kill Governor Boggs, they were then brought to trial here, but they were never convicted because of technicalities.

Well that “technicality” was that there was no proof or evidence of any kind that they played a part in it, but he didn’t mention that. They were brought to trial based on Governor Boggs suspicion of the Mormons…knowing that he killed many Mormons with his actions, and imagining that he would probably kill a person that did it to him, so it must have been the Mormons.

I understand the tour guide perhaps saying that many people believed that the Mormons had attempted it.  But to say they did it, when it was never proven in court, or outside of court is not historical.  This is were the bigotry that has followed Mormons comes from.  At that point I was sick about what he was saying, but didn’t know what to do about it and just sat and listened.  He even started quoting Joseph Smith supposedly, but they were quotes from Porter Rockwell and not Joseph.  I was grateful my children study history enough, that at least on this point if he had any credibility, he had lost it, and I no longer needed to really discuss it.

He went on to talk about Abraham Lincoln being a modern day batman…I won’t even start explaining that one…he brought in more ghost stories, and it was painfully over.  Had I paid for that experience, I would have demanded my money back, as it was a comment card was filled out.  It was a very disappointing tour, that could have easily been a great one.

Then we crossed the street to the Old Capital Building.  It is very cool and very old.  They had an actor dressed as General Grant speaking in one of the rooms.  It was enjoyable, and they were good.  The old building is beautiful and enjoyable to walk through.  While we were there, there was a Troubadour Concert and it was phenomenal.  Seriously some of the best singing I have ever heard, they were very talented.  On the main floor there is a room where they have some kid’s activities.  There are old toys, and some things they can make.  Our kids enjoyed it and came out with some things to bring home.

From there we went to the Lincoln Library.  I expected the library to be like the Ronald Reagan Library, but it’s not.  The Lincoln Library is for historians really, they have old letters to read and old photos.  They have rooms for historians to go in and study artifacts.  So we wondered the halls and looked at the displays, while our younger kids ran around bored.  After about 20 minutes of that we left.  Had I been alone as an adult, I probably would have told them I was a historian, and gone into the rooms and looked at artifacts and read more.  But it wasn’t really a family place, although my older boys that love history insisted they read every display before we left, thus the 20 minutes.

Then we crossed the street to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum.  This is the first thing that cost anything.  But it was well worth it, and was what we were expecting the Lincoln Library to be.  It was great.  They have a couple of movies that are phenomenal with special effects, and holographic people.  They were very fun to watch.

I just read a biography of Lincoln (I wish I could remember the name of it…hopefully my sister is reading the blog and will blog the name of the biography she recommended to me…hint, hint.)  It was fabulous and very thorough.  And I really came to love Lincoln from that book.  I thought that the museum showed all the struggles, decisions, and conflicts that he had to deal with really well.  It was very moving.  All the kids enjoyed it.  We were there for hours.  We left when it closed at 5pm.

We only planned one day for Springfield, and everything closes at 5pm.   We had wanted to go to the Lincoln Tomb, but it closed at 5pm also.  So we did miss that.  I’ve tried to think what we could have cut out to get there.  I guess that ridiculous tour, but it was fun to see the rooms and the Lincoln-Herndon Law Office.  I guess we could have not spent so long in the Museum, but there was nothing I would have wanted to skip.  So I guess it is what it is.  Maybe Springfield takes a little more than 1 day, or maybe, if you don’t insist on reading everything, like I do, you could do it all.

But either way, the trip was great.  I am glad we went to Springfield.  I love Lincoln, not because he was perfect.  But because he was a human being, dealing with very hard things, and handled it the best he could with integrity.  And it turns out that even being a human being, with weaknesses and follies of sorts, if you do your best with a clear conscience, God can make it acceptable…and He did.  Lincoln is a great example of that.

Summary of Day 15
Drove:   184 miles

Places we visited:  Springfield the Visitors Center, Lincoln Home Visitors Center, Lincolns home, Lincoln-Herndon Law Office, Old Capital Building, Lincoln Library, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, then camped in Joliet, IL

Everyone’s favorite things about Springfield:
Jawbreaker: Lincoln Presidential Museum (specifically the replica the State Room that hosted Lincoln’s funeral visitation)
Spitz: Lincoln Museum
Bazooka: Lincolns Home
Warhead: Lincoln Presidential Museum (specifically the movie called “The Ghosts of the Museum”)
Starburst: Lincolns Presidential Museum (the White House Section)
Fireball:  Lincolns Presidential Museum
Mr. and Mrs. S: Lincolns Presidential Museum and Lincolns Neighborhood
 

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