Many of the stores and homes are made of brick. The trees in Nauvoo, while plentiful, were not good for lumber. They are of a variety that often gets a fungus which eats out the middle of the tree. Therefore, lumber had to be transported from Wisconsin on the Mississippi River and it was very expensive. Therefore, they made bricks and built their homes of brick. At the height of growth in Nauvoo, there were 13 operating brickyards.
We saw several original pieces in the homes but most of the furnishings were left behind when the saints left Nauvoo. This rocking horse belonged to the son of John Taylor. After they left Nauvoo, their son discovered that it was not in the wagon and he was inconsolable. John Taylor came back over the Mississippi River and went to his home to retrieve it. They brought it to the Salt Lake Valley with them. The family has since donated it back to the church.
We loved this artifact. It is a bee box. It is a two compartment box separated by a removable divider. The children would gather blossoms and put into one part of the box. They would wait for a bee to come to the flowers and put the lid on the box trapping the bee. They would put some flour in the other side of the box, then remove the divider and shake the bee and the flour thoroughly. When they opened the box, the bee would be plenty ready to fly away to the hive but because he was covered in flour, he would fly slow enough for the children to follow him to the hive. They would then mark the tree where the honeycomb was and their older brothers or fathers would come with a smoker to calm the bees and collect they honey. Ingenious!
Throughout the day, we had the opportunity to hear the Nauvoo Brass Band as they traveled the streets playing their tunes. They are great. It looked like they were having a pretty good time, too!
We went to a show in the Assembly Hall about the missionaries who left Nauvoo to preach the gospel, mainly in England. It was great music and wonderful stories. My favorite story is when Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball left on their mission to England. They were both very sick with fevers, as well as their wives and several of their children. Brigham's wife, Mary Ann came to stay with Vilate Kimball so that they could care for each other and the children while they recovered from their fevers. As Heber and Brigham were leaving, Vilate was too sick to leave her bed. Heber and Brigham made it to the wagon and as they were pulling away, they felt to leave a gift for their wives. They stood in the wagon and gave three cheers for Israel. Hearing these cheers so bolstered Vilate, that she got up from her sick bed to go to the door and wave them goodbye. Tender sacrifices. The pianist for the show was our friend Jared Pierce. This time we got a picture with him.
After the show, we headed to the temple. We were both very much looking forward to visiting this temple. It was rebuilt as closely as possible to the original. There are some absolutely beautiful features. We could not take pictures inside the temple, however. There is a spiral staircase that goes five floors from the baptistry to the upper rooms of the temple. I was able to walk up and down 3 of those flights. Eileen was even able to walk up one of them. They don't actually let baptismal patrons use the spiral staircase but the temple worker there thought it would be a great opportunity for Eileen. Awesome. They also had the assembly hall open so we got to see inside that room which is very similar to the assembly hall in the Kirtland Temple. It was everything I hoped it would be. Such a wonderful feeling in the temple. I can't help but marvel at the early saints who continued on and finished the Nauvoo temple knowing that they were going to be leaving it nearly as soon as it was done.
At a garden area at the front of the temple is this statue of Joseph and Hyrum Smith as they rode out of town for Carthage Jail. They were very close and Hyrum was always a supporter of his brother. They were killed in Carthage and never returned to Nauvoo.
When President Hinckley dedicated the Nauvoo Temple, he asked all who visited Nauvoo to be sure that they walked the Trail of Hope down Parley Street to the Mississippi River in old Nauvoo. Along the Trail of Hope are quotes from various pioneer journals. The saints were sad to leave Nauvoo but they had faith that God was preparing a place of rest for them in the rocky mountains. I have read books about the pioneer experiences and participated in youth handcart treks but I think those are only glimpses into the hardships that they faced. They were certainly a people of great faith.
Here is a wagon on a raft ready to cross the Mississippi River. On the first day of the exodus in early February 1846, a severe storm came into town which caused some hardship for preparations but caused an ice bridge to form across the river. The mobs had threatened to cause trouble for the saints as they left town, but this ice bridge allowed them to cross without the aide of the ferries and the storm undoubtedly discouraged some of the mobbers from attacking. The exodus took several weeks and many of the saints brought their wagons across on rafts like this one.
We went back to the Sunset on the Mississippi show. It was so much fun, we wanted to see it again. Bravo to the performing and senior missionaries who put on such a fun show. We ended the night with one last show--Rendezvous with Old Nauvoo. It was put on by the senior couples and was pretty fun. It is in the small cultural hall so the connection with the audience is very close. A fun time.
The bee box is so clever!
ReplyDeleteI can hear the emotion and pride in your words as you share your experiences at Nauvoo. I'm so happy for the two of you to have this adventure together. :o)