Seven Shoes for Seven Sisters

Posted by Heidi in katie's wedding/nauvoo

So much good taste all in one place . . . .

Since, for some of us, this was our first time in Nauvoo, and since it is considered the cradle of Mormonism, and since we have so much personal ancestral history there as well, we gals really wanted to do some sight-seeing. After the pictures at the temple were taken, we went to the church to help sister #3 put on (did I say put on? I meant eat) a delicious spread of cold cuts and fruit which tasted extra yummy after our time out in the hot humid weather. Then we took a picture of all of our shoes because they were all so darn cute. After that, we headed back to the motel, changed into our comfy clothes and headed off to see the sights.

The interior of the John Taylor home . . . .

We saw one of the former homes of John Taylor who later became third president of the church (for those of my readers who are not LDS), a schoolhouse, and some other old or reconstructed homes from the mid-1800’s. Then we went on to the Joseph Smith (first president of the church) area where we saw a number of properties that belonged to Joseph and his wife, Emma. One was the little house (since added on to) where they lived during the time period when he was incarcerated on trumped up charges in Liberty jail along with our ancestor, Caleb Baldwin. There was also the Mansion House which is beautiful and quite large (though only a fraction of it remains) which was very interesting to go through. We went through the Smith family cemetery and saw the place where Joseph was buried for many years (under the bee-house for safe keeping) before being dug up in 1928 and reburied next to his brother and wife.

A low down view of the old barn near or on Caleb Baldwin's plot

Later we went to the land and records office to locate the plots of land that belonged to Caleb Baldwin during his time in Nauvoo. We discovered that he had two plots though there is nothing that remains in either that would tell us what it might have looked like when he was a resident. I did take a picture of an old barn that was close to where Caleb’s property must have been but there was no one around to ask how long it had been there. With all the humidity there, the barn could have been a mere 50 years old and still looked 200. In fact, I was totally fascinated by the barns and old buildings that were being taken over by plants growing up and through and around the roof, windows and doors. In California, the only thing that grows well are things that are purposefully watered. With all the rain they get there through the spring and summer, there is green everywhere. It was beautiful!

Sister #2 and sister #4 at the Nauvoo House hotel and restaurant

That night we had dinner at the Nauvoo House, not to be confused with the actual Nauvoo House, owned by Joseph and Emma, which was under construction at the time of Joseph’s death. The first is in downtown Nauvoo and was once a residence but is now a hotel and restaurant. It is a pretty blue Victorian style house and had period décor all throughout.

At the frozen custard place in downtown Nauvoo

Later, we were delighted to find an open store where we shopped for souvenirs and when we got hungry again, we walked in the warm dusky night down the street to enjoy a frozen custard. Yum! They had quite the sense of humor there--the sign on the door said they were open until 9:33 and until 9:36 the following evening. I suppose this is for people whose watches aren't coordinated with theirs. Tomorrow, check back to read about our run-in with a tornado!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 11, 2008 at Wednesday, June 11, 2008 and is filed under katie's wedding/nauvoo . You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed .