The town of Keokuk is quite a large town that sits on the Iowa side of the Mississippi River. Our hotel was situated in the main shopping precinct with a Walmart and more excitingly for Thomas, a Gamespot located right outside our hotel door. It was a long day in the car yesterday so we slept in. Jodie and I woke first and decided to leave the kids sleeping while we went down for breakfast where we planned our day.
We went upstairs, the kids woke, showered and dressed and we headed off for the 30min drive to Nauvoo. On the way to Nauvoo we drove in the slightly opposite direction, to Carthage Jail, which is located about 20mins from where we were staying. Once again the church has done a lovely job in restoring the jail, and building a lovely Visitor’s Center. The site is designed so that you walk down a long laneway fitted out with large, life-size plaques that illuminate many key events in the life of Joseph and Hiram and the role Carthage played in Heavenly Father’s plan for the restoration.
At the end of the laneway is two life-sized sculptures of he Prophet Joseph and his brother Hiram. I love the way this sculpture is laid out, Hiram stands in the background and the Prophet Joseph stands infront of him with Hyrum hands resting on Joseph's arms. I have learnt on this trip of the special affection and relationship that Joseph had with his older brother Hiram and standing there looking up that affection comes through, or is easily displayed in the way the sculpture is presented.
To the right of the sculpture is the entrance way to the Visitor’s Center, where we were greeted by the sister missionaries. We were informed that a tour would be starting in 15mins and we took this time to stroll round the Visitor’s Center, to view the paintings and the sculptures and prepare for the tour. Accompanying us on this tour, or as part of our group, was a young Catholic Priest, who has been assigned to Nauvoo for the summer. He was inquisitive and respectful and seemed to enjoy his experience.
The tour begins with a movie depicting the life of Joseph in the third person by people who had known and been associated to him. The movie ends with the Prophet Joseph bidding farewell to Emma and the children. A poignant moment is captures when Emma says, with all the concern of a loving wife, “Joseph, you will come back to us.” The Prophet does not answer this question, as we now know that he knew of his impending fate. The movie ends there and we are escorted out to view the jail.
A neat square, red brick, two-story building with a dry kitchen built on the side that was were the jailer and his family would prepare and eat their meals. You went to the jail through the kitchen and into the downstairs room, which is a nicely appointed living quarters for the jailer and his family. You then go into the lower floor holding cell. It was in this room that the prophet spent the first of his three nights in the jail, in the company of about 8 friends and supporters. With increasing tensions and the concern for mob violence, the jailer and his wife moved the prophet, his brother, john Taylor and Willard Richards to their own room upstairs in an effort to protect them.
The tour then takes you up the stairs and into the Dungeon Cell, which is everything you would imagine an 1800 jail cell to look like, dark and foreboding and sparse of anything comfortable. You are then taken into the jailer’s bedroom, which of course is where the tragic events occurred. The room is bright and airy and in stark contrast to the cell we had just been in. it was in this room I gained a deep appreciation for the jailer and his family, even though not LDS, it was obvious that they were good Christian people. In fact the jailer was out doing an errand for Joseph when the mob attacked at 5pm that evening.
You sit around the room and some audio is played, recapping the events that took place. Some interesting things are observed here. The door leading into the room still has the two bullet holes that can be clearly seen. The first one is down by the lock, which penetrated the door and hit John Taylor in the hip, throwing him backwards. The second bullet hole is only a little above halfway-two thirds up the door, and you can see the way the hole penetrates the door, that the bullet was going in an upward direction. This of course is the bullet that pierced the door and as the prophet and Hiram and Willard were trying desperately to keep the door-closed o prevent the mobsters entering the room, it was this bullet that struck Hiram in the face and killed him almost instantly.
It was at this time that the prophet made his way to the window in an effort to escape and as you sit there looking across at this window, I became a little overcome that this was indeed the place where this great man took his last breath. He was struck by two bullets in the chest by the mob downstairs and struck in the back from the mob inside, which threw his lifeless body out of the window, to the ground below.
The tour allows you to linger a little bit longer in this room, as it is again another one of those sacred places where the spirit of the Lord in unrestrained. You then walk downstairs and out through the front door of the home to the lawn and yard area. I found this was the best place to take pictures of the jail and have included them below.
We left Carthage for the 30min drive to Nauvoo. Your first impression upon driving into Nauvoo was how well laid out orderly, and neat and tidy the small town is. You drive past old Nauvoo on the left and up a small sweeping bend to the top of the hill, which is the highest point in town, to the Nauvoo Temple. We decided to drive up and drive around the Temple. We could see car and cars of families dressed the their church clothes who had obviously been to the Temple that day.
There are not a lot of people in Nauvoo and no major industry to speak of, but it was obvious that the Temple was quite busy as I imagine many Saints travel from all over the US to attend this historic House of God.
We decided we were hungry and went into your typical, small-town diner to have some lunch. Jodie then decided to do the 3pm session and I drove the children back to the hotel so they could get ready to do baptisms in the Temple.
We drove back and Thomas and I were able to change in the welcome center and leave the two little girls with some lovely couple missionaries and went into the Temple. What is lovely with the kids with the Nauvoo Temple is that there is no separate entrance to the baptistry, they actually have to walk through the front doors with everybody else and then are escorted downstairs to the baptistery. The Nauvoo Temple has the largest baptismal font in the world but has been built to the exact specifications of the original font.
As always, the ordinance workers were so kind and accommodating. We started by doing confirmations and were delighted when Jodie joined us after having just completed her session. She too was able to participate in the Confirmations, which enhanced our family Temple experience. I then was fortunate enough to attend the last session of the day at 6pm while Jodie took the kids on a tour of old Nauvoo. I’m grateful for all the Temples and especially our Temple in Brisbane and I know we’re not really supposed to have favourties, but I would have to confess that Nauvoo is now probably my favourite Temple.
It is wonderful how they have built the Temple, particularly the otter façade to the exact specifications as the one the early Saints built. For example, when the Saints were building the first Temple, they began with large stones at the bade of the walls, and as the walls got higher, they would put smaller stones towards the top, they were about two thirds of the way finished when the prophet and his brother were killed, the Saints then realized that they would need to finish the Temple quicker and so two thirds of the way up the Temple, they started laying larger blocks to speed up the work. That same pattern is repeated on this new, reconstructed Temple. As they built the Temple on the same foundations as the first Temple, the date of construction on the front of the Temple is listed as the date the Saints first built the Temple in Nauvoo, April 6, 1841 and not the date that they started constructing the new Temple, which I think is a lovely touch.
The murals in the various endowment rooms were hand painted at Brigham Young University and we were told that all of the General Authorities had the opportunity to paint a little something on these murals, weather it was a flower or a leaf or a bird, which again I think is a lovely touch and would be a marvelous thing for the General Authorities to do.
When we finished doing baptisms we were able to exit up the spiral staircase, which was the same that was built in the original Temple, which was a lovely experience for the kids. I had arranged for Jodie and the kids to meet me at 7:30pm to arrange for a nice family photo to be taken in front of the Temple. I got my tripod out and all set up and has proven the case on the whole vacation, as soon as I set my tripod up, even though previously no one was around, I would all of a sudden find myself surrounded by people, or people walking through the background, and I must confess I have found this frustrating these holidays. So my desire to have a nice family picture in front of the Temple did not come off to my liking.
Jodie and the kids then took me for a quick tour of historic old Nauvoo and we went to watch the Nauvoo pageant. This was not on the same scale as the Hill Cumorah Pageant but all the actors were individually mic’d and performed as if they would in a theater. The backdrop to the stage was the hill with the Nauvoo Temple a top. It tells the story of the foundation of Nauvoo and the building of the Temple and throughout the show the wooden framework of the Temple is erected at the back of the stage.
A canvas backdrop of the Temple is then pulled up over this framework. Then in the final scene Joseph and Hiram and the remaining cast members, dressed in earthy, pastel colours encourage us to remember their legacy and begin singing The Spirit of God. The backdrop to the stage collapses to reveal the wonderfully illuminated Nauvoo Temple in all its glory on top of the hill. You then hear an audio recording of President Hinckley’s 2002 October General Conference talk titled, “If I were an angel and granted the desires of my heart.” He talks about the Nauvoo Temple dedication and refers to it as Joseph’s Temple, facing towards the West. He then compares that to the Salt Lake Temple, which faces East towards Nauvoo, he states that these two temples act as bookends to the years of sacrifice, faithfulness and trials of those early Saints. I am not afraid to admit that my eyes welled with tears and my heart became just full of gratitude for those wonderful early pioneering Saints. I just hope that in some small way I have added to and built upon that legacy. We drove up to the Temple to take some night time photos and drove home to the hotel.
We went upstairs, the kids woke, showered and dressed and we headed off for the 30min drive to Nauvoo. On the way to Nauvoo we drove in the slightly opposite direction, to Carthage Jail, which is located about 20mins from where we were staying. Once again the church has done a lovely job in restoring the jail, and building a lovely Visitor’s Center. The site is designed so that you walk down a long laneway fitted out with large, life-size plaques that illuminate many key events in the life of Joseph and Hiram and the role Carthage played in Heavenly Father’s plan for the restoration.
At the end of the laneway is two life-sized sculptures of he Prophet Joseph and his brother Hiram. I love the way this sculpture is laid out, Hiram stands in the background and the Prophet Joseph stands infront of him with Hyrum hands resting on Joseph's arms. I have learnt on this trip of the special affection and relationship that Joseph had with his older brother Hiram and standing there looking up that affection comes through, or is easily displayed in the way the sculpture is presented.
To the right of the sculpture is the entrance way to the Visitor’s Center, where we were greeted by the sister missionaries. We were informed that a tour would be starting in 15mins and we took this time to stroll round the Visitor’s Center, to view the paintings and the sculptures and prepare for the tour. Accompanying us on this tour, or as part of our group, was a young Catholic Priest, who has been assigned to Nauvoo for the summer. He was inquisitive and respectful and seemed to enjoy his experience.
The tour begins with a movie depicting the life of Joseph in the third person by people who had known and been associated to him. The movie ends with the Prophet Joseph bidding farewell to Emma and the children. A poignant moment is captures when Emma says, with all the concern of a loving wife, “Joseph, you will come back to us.” The Prophet does not answer this question, as we now know that he knew of his impending fate. The movie ends there and we are escorted out to view the jail.
A neat square, red brick, two-story building with a dry kitchen built on the side that was were the jailer and his family would prepare and eat their meals. You went to the jail through the kitchen and into the downstairs room, which is a nicely appointed living quarters for the jailer and his family. You then go into the lower floor holding cell. It was in this room that the prophet spent the first of his three nights in the jail, in the company of about 8 friends and supporters. With increasing tensions and the concern for mob violence, the jailer and his wife moved the prophet, his brother, john Taylor and Willard Richards to their own room upstairs in an effort to protect them.
The tour then takes you up the stairs and into the Dungeon Cell, which is everything you would imagine an 1800 jail cell to look like, dark and foreboding and sparse of anything comfortable. You are then taken into the jailer’s bedroom, which of course is where the tragic events occurred. The room is bright and airy and in stark contrast to the cell we had just been in. it was in this room I gained a deep appreciation for the jailer and his family, even though not LDS, it was obvious that they were good Christian people. In fact the jailer was out doing an errand for Joseph when the mob attacked at 5pm that evening.
You sit around the room and some audio is played, recapping the events that took place. Some interesting things are observed here. The door leading into the room still has the two bullet holes that can be clearly seen. The first one is down by the lock, which penetrated the door and hit John Taylor in the hip, throwing him backwards. The second bullet hole is only a little above halfway-two thirds up the door, and you can see the way the hole penetrates the door, that the bullet was going in an upward direction. This of course is the bullet that pierced the door and as the prophet and Hiram and Willard were trying desperately to keep the door-closed o prevent the mobsters entering the room, it was this bullet that struck Hiram in the face and killed him almost instantly.
It was at this time that the prophet made his way to the window in an effort to escape and as you sit there looking across at this window, I became a little overcome that this was indeed the place where this great man took his last breath. He was struck by two bullets in the chest by the mob downstairs and struck in the back from the mob inside, which threw his lifeless body out of the window, to the ground below.
The tour allows you to linger a little bit longer in this room, as it is again another one of those sacred places where the spirit of the Lord in unrestrained. You then walk downstairs and out through the front door of the home to the lawn and yard area. I found this was the best place to take pictures of the jail and have included them below.
We left Carthage for the 30min drive to Nauvoo. Your first impression upon driving into Nauvoo was how well laid out orderly, and neat and tidy the small town is. You drive past old Nauvoo on the left and up a small sweeping bend to the top of the hill, which is the highest point in town, to the Nauvoo Temple. We decided to drive up and drive around the Temple. We could see car and cars of families dressed the their church clothes who had obviously been to the Temple that day.
There are not a lot of people in Nauvoo and no major industry to speak of, but it was obvious that the Temple was quite busy as I imagine many Saints travel from all over the US to attend this historic House of God.
We decided we were hungry and went into your typical, small-town diner to have some lunch. Jodie then decided to do the 3pm session and I drove the children back to the hotel so they could get ready to do baptisms in the Temple.
We drove back and Thomas and I were able to change in the welcome center and leave the two little girls with some lovely couple missionaries and went into the Temple. What is lovely with the kids with the Nauvoo Temple is that there is no separate entrance to the baptistry, they actually have to walk through the front doors with everybody else and then are escorted downstairs to the baptistery. The Nauvoo Temple has the largest baptismal font in the world but has been built to the exact specifications of the original font.
As always, the ordinance workers were so kind and accommodating. We started by doing confirmations and were delighted when Jodie joined us after having just completed her session. She too was able to participate in the Confirmations, which enhanced our family Temple experience. I then was fortunate enough to attend the last session of the day at 6pm while Jodie took the kids on a tour of old Nauvoo. I’m grateful for all the Temples and especially our Temple in Brisbane and I know we’re not really supposed to have favourties, but I would have to confess that Nauvoo is now probably my favourite Temple.
It is wonderful how they have built the Temple, particularly the otter façade to the exact specifications as the one the early Saints built. For example, when the Saints were building the first Temple, they began with large stones at the bade of the walls, and as the walls got higher, they would put smaller stones towards the top, they were about two thirds of the way finished when the prophet and his brother were killed, the Saints then realized that they would need to finish the Temple quicker and so two thirds of the way up the Temple, they started laying larger blocks to speed up the work. That same pattern is repeated on this new, reconstructed Temple. As they built the Temple on the same foundations as the first Temple, the date of construction on the front of the Temple is listed as the date the Saints first built the Temple in Nauvoo, April 6, 1841 and not the date that they started constructing the new Temple, which I think is a lovely touch.
The murals in the various endowment rooms were hand painted at Brigham Young University and we were told that all of the General Authorities had the opportunity to paint a little something on these murals, weather it was a flower or a leaf or a bird, which again I think is a lovely touch and would be a marvelous thing for the General Authorities to do.
When we finished doing baptisms we were able to exit up the spiral staircase, which was the same that was built in the original Temple, which was a lovely experience for the kids. I had arranged for Jodie and the kids to meet me at 7:30pm to arrange for a nice family photo to be taken in front of the Temple. I got my tripod out and all set up and has proven the case on the whole vacation, as soon as I set my tripod up, even though previously no one was around, I would all of a sudden find myself surrounded by people, or people walking through the background, and I must confess I have found this frustrating these holidays. So my desire to have a nice family picture in front of the Temple did not come off to my liking.
Jodie and the kids then took me for a quick tour of historic old Nauvoo and we went to watch the Nauvoo pageant. This was not on the same scale as the Hill Cumorah Pageant but all the actors were individually mic’d and performed as if they would in a theater. The backdrop to the stage was the hill with the Nauvoo Temple a top. It tells the story of the foundation of Nauvoo and the building of the Temple and throughout the show the wooden framework of the Temple is erected at the back of the stage.
A canvas backdrop of the Temple is then pulled up over this framework. Then in the final scene Joseph and Hiram and the remaining cast members, dressed in earthy, pastel colours encourage us to remember their legacy and begin singing The Spirit of God. The backdrop to the stage collapses to reveal the wonderfully illuminated Nauvoo Temple in all its glory on top of the hill. You then hear an audio recording of President Hinckley’s 2002 October General Conference talk titled, “If I were an angel and granted the desires of my heart.” He talks about the Nauvoo Temple dedication and refers to it as Joseph’s Temple, facing towards the West. He then compares that to the Salt Lake Temple, which faces East towards Nauvoo, he states that these two temples act as bookends to the years of sacrifice, faithfulness and trials of those early Saints. I am not afraid to admit that my eyes welled with tears and my heart became just full of gratitude for those wonderful early pioneering Saints. I just hope that in some small way I have added to and built upon that legacy. We drove up to the Temple to take some night time photos and drove home to the hotel.
Family outside Carthedge Jail. The 2nd floor window above our heads is the one the Prophet was shot and fell through.
  The holding cell downstairs  Bullet hole in the door. This shot was the one that killed Hyrum  Bullet hole above the lock. This bullet struck John Taylor    The exterior of the temple. Note the larger stones on the top third.   The Nauvoo House  The smith family graveyard  View of the Mississippi River from Joseph & Emma's home in Nauvoo  The Finale    |   The Jailers bedroom were Jospeh & Hyrum were killed  Thomas in the window were Joseph fell from.  The Window     The Smith Home  Red brick store. Where Relief Society was founded  Nauvoo Pagent    |
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