Day 7- The Trail of Hope, Joseph Smith’s Homestead, Mansion House, and Red Brick Store, Free Time

Today we started bright and early on Parley Street, at the area of the street known as The Trail of Hope. Here, we saw actors dressed in period clothing portraying real people who left Nauvoo for the west. We heard their stories and their songs as we walked down the trail towards the river. It was a beautiful way to begin the day, being moved by their words and music and feeling the spirit testify of the truths they spoke.

Afterwards, we came back to the hotel to have some breakfast and then enjoy a little free time to explore Old Nauvoo before meeting at the Community of Christ Visitor’s Center for a tour of Joseph Smith’s properties that they now own. We saw the first house Joseph and Emma lived in, as well as the Mansion House, where they lived together only about ten months, until the prophet’s death. We also saw the Red Brick Store, where, in the upper room and offices, Joseph received revelations now in the Doctrine and Covenants, along with revelation about the temple endowment. It was here that the Relief Society was also organized.

After the tour, we again had free time to explore Old Nauvoo. After dinner, some chose to attend the Country Fair and the Nauvoo Pageant once more, before we have to leave this lovely place tomorrow morning.

Pictures-

Waiting in the courtyard bright and early to go to Parley Street

The lovely young lady with glasses in the center of the picture is Brother Colin Allison's niece, who is here in Nauvoo as the stage manager for the British Pageant. We just happened to see her as we were waiting for the presentations along the Trail of Hope to begin.

The following pictures show the various actors as they portray those who wrote about their experiences on the journey to the Salt Lake valley. Also shown are the signs along the way with other quotes by those who wrote their experiences in their journals. The signs don't really correspond to the actors at all, though some of the actors did portray those whose quotes are on the signs.

The next few pictures occur after we have finished listening to all the actors, and we are making our way down to the river.

An old wagon on an old ferry boat

At the river's edge

Walking back up Parley Street- can you see the temple in the background?

In between the Trail of Hope and our next scheduled tour, we had some free time to explore more of Old Nauvoo. A few of us went to the Land & Records office to see if any of our ancestors owned property during the 1840's. A few of us found that they did, and were able to find the area that was once theirs.

The Community of Christ church owns some of the historical property of the Smith family, shown in the next few pictures. We were not allowed to take pictures inside any of the building, with the exception of the upper room in the Red Brick store.

Gift shop before the tour began

Walking to the first homestead of Joseph and Emma Smith

Nauvoo House

Homestead

At the well outside the homestead

Our tour guide, Jared, who is a member of the LDS church, but works doing tours for the Community of Christ. He is a college student majoring in Mormon Studies and Islam at Utah State University.

The Mansion House

Going into the Red Brick Store

After this tour, we had more free time to explore Old Nauvoo. Following are some of the places our family went, but there were many other places we didn't get to see.

Free time was followed by dinner, and then more free time. One last photo of the Nauvoo Temple in the evening, after the pageant was over for the night. Beautiful!