Going through my pictures of our recent trip to Nauvoo leaves me feeling slightly emotional. It's hard to put into words the feelings and memories of the time we spent there. It was a whirlwind two days; probably the two most spiritual days of my entire life. My testimony grew by leaps and bounds, as I witnessed first-hand the places where courageous pioneers walked and lived and bore one another's burdens. The spirit is so incredibly strong in that beautiful little town, nestled against the banks of the Mississippi River.
The Nauvoo Temple is one of the most beautiful temples I have ever seen. Phil, Mike and I did an endownment session as soon as we arrived, and it was a neat way to kick-off our visit. It is evident that the temple is a special place, due to the meticulous details within and without. I loved the beautiful spiral staircase, and the incredibly detailed murals painted on the walls in some of the rooms. There is such a feeling of history and peace in that building. It might just be my new favorite temple.
We hit many of the tourist spots within Nauvoo. We did a carriage ride, and got to see some of the lovely country surrounding the city. We visited the bakery, Joseph Smith's mansion house, cultural hall, Heber C. Kimball's home, seventies hall, Wilford Woodruff's home, Monument to Women garden, and the list goes on and on. It was a lot of fun to meet so many enthusiastic and kind missionaries, all of them there to make the visit more spiritually enlightening, and provide lots of information to those who are interested.
The last thing we did before leaving Nauvoo was walk down the "Trail of Hope" (formerly called the "Trail of Tears"--not to be confused with the trail that forcibly removed several thousand Native Americans). I wasn't sure it was something I wanted to do...we were so tired! I felt like I had been walking for days, but as we started to walk down the path that leads to the river I began to completely choke-up. For those of you who have never been, the trail is strewn with markers along the way which recount journal entries and witness accounts of the saints' exodus from Nauvoo. It was an emotional, haunting and powerful way to say goodbye to the city and people I had fallen in love with. One journal entry from a woman talked about her giving birth to a baby while traveling in covered wagon, made it particularly hard for me to keep going. If our situations were reversed, it is a burden I'm not sure I could have endured. She cheerfully recounted how all of her pain and sorrow melted the minute she looked into her baby's beautiful face. It was a very powerful moment for me, and I'm so grateful to have experienced it all first-hand.
*If you're wondering about the pictures*
From top left to right: Megan at the mighty Mississippi where saints crossed, journal entry from the Trail of Hope, Megan at Heber C. Kimball's home, and the final resting place of Joseph, Hyrum and Emma Smith. From bottom left to right: Mike and Peter at "sun" piece from original Nauvoo temple, quilts from the 1800's displayed in the cultural hall, Phil and Dianne in the Monument to Women garden, and Megan in front of temple after doing an endownment session. Left middle pictures: Mike and Peter with our horses from the carriage ride through the countryside, and Joseph Smith's mansion house (owned by the Community of Christ). Right middle pictures: eternal couple Joseph and Emma immortalized in the Monument to Women garden, and the Scovil Bakery that makes yummy gingerbread.
The Nauvoo Temple is one of the most beautiful temples I have ever seen. Phil, Mike and I did an endownment session as soon as we arrived, and it was a neat way to kick-off our visit. It is evident that the temple is a special place, due to the meticulous details within and without. I loved the beautiful spiral staircase, and the incredibly detailed murals painted on the walls in some of the rooms. There is such a feeling of history and peace in that building. It might just be my new favorite temple.
We hit many of the tourist spots within Nauvoo. We did a carriage ride, and got to see some of the lovely country surrounding the city. We visited the bakery, Joseph Smith's mansion house, cultural hall, Heber C. Kimball's home, seventies hall, Wilford Woodruff's home, Monument to Women garden, and the list goes on and on. It was a lot of fun to meet so many enthusiastic and kind missionaries, all of them there to make the visit more spiritually enlightening, and provide lots of information to those who are interested.
The last thing we did before leaving Nauvoo was walk down the "Trail of Hope" (formerly called the "Trail of Tears"--not to be confused with the trail that forcibly removed several thousand Native Americans). I wasn't sure it was something I wanted to do...we were so tired! I felt like I had been walking for days, but as we started to walk down the path that leads to the river I began to completely choke-up. For those of you who have never been, the trail is strewn with markers along the way which recount journal entries and witness accounts of the saints' exodus from Nauvoo. It was an emotional, haunting and powerful way to say goodbye to the city and people I had fallen in love with. One journal entry from a woman talked about her giving birth to a baby while traveling in covered wagon, made it particularly hard for me to keep going. If our situations were reversed, it is a burden I'm not sure I could have endured. She cheerfully recounted how all of her pain and sorrow melted the minute she looked into her baby's beautiful face. It was a very powerful moment for me, and I'm so grateful to have experienced it all first-hand.
*If you're wondering about the pictures*
From top left to right: Megan at the mighty Mississippi where saints crossed, journal entry from the Trail of Hope, Megan at Heber C. Kimball's home, and the final resting place of Joseph, Hyrum and Emma Smith. From bottom left to right: Mike and Peter at "sun" piece from original Nauvoo temple, quilts from the 1800's displayed in the cultural hall, Phil and Dianne in the Monument to Women garden, and Megan in front of temple after doing an endownment session. Left middle pictures: Mike and Peter with our horses from the carriage ride through the countryside, and Joseph Smith's mansion house (owned by the Community of Christ). Right middle pictures: eternal couple Joseph and Emma immortalized in the Monument to Women garden, and the Scovil Bakery that makes yummy gingerbread.
8 comments:
Probably the best tour I've had of Nauvoo for having never been there!
I wanna go bad!! Thanks for sharing!
I'm so glad you loved Nauvoo! I love it, and there are more things to do there every time we go. I had never heard about the Trail of Hope; I look forward to doing it the next time we go.
I am so jealous that you got to do a session at the Nauvoo Temple! Nate and I were last there when they were still constructing it; the pictures I've seen of the final product are just beautiful. We were supposed to only be there for a day and a half, but we loved Nauvoo so much we ended up extending our trip another day.
I can't wait to see all your pictures!
Nauvoo is loads of fun, even more so now than when I was a kid. Haven't been there since I was a Freshman in High School. Thanks for the quick visit ;) Question: How did you do the photo mosaic? It's fantastic!
I feel exactly the same way you do about Nauvoo. We went when Austin and Blake were little and I was OVERWHELMED at the emotion I felt there. We went to the Temple open house and that Temple is amazing. It definately is a testimony builder and I tell everyone to go to Nauvoo. It is a neat place of church history. I am glad you loved it!
You know the coolest thing about those fairytale books? They used to be my Grandma Bishop's(Dad's mom) when she was little. And the case that holds them, has her maiden name on the outside. Same with the Alice in Wonderland set. Used to be my Grandma's. And the treasure island book used to be my Dad's. The Nancy Drew hardback stories I got from a thrift store when I was kid. I love antique books.
PS I am putting Nauvoo on the list to visit. It loks like you all had a blast and made some really special memories.
It was fun to read about your trip to Nauvoo. I thought you might like to know that you have very "sturdy" roots there. My father's mother, Elsie Stout decends from Allen Joseph Stout who was in league with the Prophet Joseph as his body guard. He also was the chief of police and captain of the Nauvoo Legion. Here's a short bio on him!
http://allenjosephstout.blogspot.com/2007/03/son-of-jospeh-stout-son-of-samuel-stout.html
Cindy-
I actually took several pictures of journal entries from Hosea Stout while I was there (along the Trail of Hope). There are also many records in the Seventies Hall of Stouts, Tenney's, Woods, etc. I told Mike I knew we were all related somehow!
Cool! I have the two volume diary written my Hosea Stout if you ever want to borrow them to take a look. It's mostly day to day but there are some very interesting entries. Like when he served a mission to China. Thanks for sharing your experiences. I really enjoyed reading about how you felt.
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