Nauvoo Day 5

 Day 5 - Monday, June 2, 2025

We started out our day with a Parade with the Nauvoo Brass band, which we all joined as they passed. They then had a short program, with the pledge and National Anthem. Some of the kids had slower start this morning, so those of us that were ready, went out exploring, saving the Smith Family Sites, for when we were all together, We went Sarah Grangers home. This home is all original. Then we took a tour of three homes including William Weeks. William was the architect of the Nauvoo Temple. They told us a story of how the blueprints were handed down through Weeks family who had eventually all fallen away from the church. When years later a couple of missionaries unknowingly knocked on the door. The family gave them the original blueprints to take back to Salt Lake. The church leaders were able to use these original blueprints to rebuild the temple. So So Cool. Heavenly Father kept them preserved for the right time. We also saw the west grove, where Joseph Smith  spoke at my great, great, great grandfather Stephen Abbotts funeral. 

We went back and walked the cute town while waiting for everyone to get ready. There was a little drink shop which saved the kids. They went to it multiple times a day.  That afternoon, we toured the Smith Family Sites together. The Mansion House, The Homestead, The Red Brick Store, Lucy Mack Smith's House and the Smith Family Cemetery. So so amazing. 

After the sites closed, we went to Red Front and ate a very yummy dinner and then went to the outdoor stage for a production of "Sunset by the Mississippi" which was so cute and performed by the same Missionaries that did the Trail of Hope. 

Such a Wonderful Day!!

Woke up to a flat tire. Adam and Levi changing to the spare, so they can take the flat tire to a tire shop. 

Each morning the girls would go for their run. 

It was a full-time job getting everyone out the door each morning. Sometimes we'd just leave the stragglers and come back and get them. 

Brass Band Parade!

Joining in!

I Spy the Temple

Sarah Grangers home. Her home is all original.

Bench that Emily Belle Freeman sits on and ponders when she visits. 

William Weeks Home

The marble mantles are just wood, painted to look like marble. 

Original Foundation. 

Bishops Storehouse

Grandpa standing by the West Grove. 

Parlor where they would often hold funerals. 

How they built the temple. They were a very industrious and inventive people. 

Back to Mulholland Street, shopping, exploring and waiting for everyone.. 

Cute drink shop, half a block from our apartment. 

Everyone together visiting the Smith Family Sites. 

The Homestead. First Nauvoo home for Jospeh and Emma's family. 

Back in the day, the river came all the way up to the white fence. 

Joseph Smith would greet people from his front yard as they got off the boats at the dock. 

The Dock. 

Can never get away from work. 

Door to the cellar. 

Original side table

Original high chair

The Mansion House. This was the second home of Joseph and Emma and also a hotel for guests. This was where Joseph was living when he was martyred. 

Original desk of Josephs. 

Original Dresser

Original Trunk.

Emma's Original mirror

Where Rockwell would have entered that night of the Christmas party. 

House plans of the original layout, showing the room where they would have laid Joseph and Hyrum's bodies for visitors to come view. 

Joseph and Emma's original chairs

Portion of the home that torn down. 

Reenacting Porter Rockwell's visit. Haha!

So crazy to think they are buried here. 

Emma's second husband.

Joseph Smith Sr and Lucy Mack Smith

Joseph Smith III's wife Emma. 

Daughter of Joseph Smith III & Emma. 

All those buried here. Some graves are unmarked.

Loved all the street names. Water and Granger Street. 

Joseph Smith's Office

Upstairs in the Red Brick Store where the first RS was organized. 

Sidney Rigdon's home. You could see it from the Mansion House. They were close neighbors. 

Cobbler Shop Foundation

Simeon Dunn Home. A lot of these homes are now homes for missionaries and not open to the public. 

Joseph Coolidge Home. 

Erastus Snow

Lucy Mack Smith's Home

Lucy telling us her story. She was so darling. 

Always with the steep steps. 

Willard Richards Hotel.

Red Front Restaurant. 

Museum about the night Joseph was killed and how the mob went to a cafe afterwards and the waitress overheard everything they said. She later sat on the stand at their trial against them, still no one was ever convicted. 

Adam holding a gun like the one Joseph had in Carthage. 

Getting ready to watch Sunset on the Mississippi

Pre-show with the brass band. 

It was so cute. The performing missionaries are sooo talented. It was fun seeing the same ones from the night before at the trail of hope. 

Literally, Sunset by the Mississippi

Annies Custard.

View from our Apartment

Playing Games.