Hey Y'all,

I just completed a visit to Nauvoo for the first time last week and thought I'd post a few comments and observations for fellow ex-mo history buffs who might be interested. Had an interesting time and got to ask a lot of questions of people at town businesses and the LDS missionaries working at the Nauvoo site.


Just a few days before our visit, the Community of Christ sold most of their historic Nauvoo sites to the LDS Church so those properties were closed to allow the CoC to prepare for the move of some CoC materials to their visitors center in Independence, Missouri and to allow the LDS church to prepare to reopen them. Obviously, the missionaries at Nauvoo weren't told about the sale in advance although one of them told me he wasn't surprised since the CoC had been selling other assets in the past few years. The LDS missionaries are receiving training on the new sites and they will be open for visitors on March 25. It's too bad the CoC won't have any active reps working at the site since apparently they tended to be more frank and informative than the LDS missionaries assigned to Nauvoo.

The rebuilt Nauvoo temple really is quite impressive, especially when you consider how hard it must have been to build it in the 19th century. As is expected, the LDS church spared no expense in the renovations and all of their interpretive work. I don't have a TR anymore so I couldn't go inside, but there was a nice model inside the visitors center that showed how the temple was laid out. There were about a dozen cars parked at the temple and some additional cars parked behind the Temple Reception building across the street so I expect there were endowment sessions going on inside.

One thing that surprised me was that right next to the temple, on the same hill overlooking the Mississippi River, is an operating Catholic church. The common photos you see from Nauvoo don't really show this view. The Catholic church is smaller than the temple, but its steeple is almost as tall as the LDS temple. I'm sure if the Catholic church is ever closed, the LDS church will buy the property and demolish the Catholic church so they can make the view of the temple more impressive and historically representative.

The city itself really is in the middle of nowhere and it has many fewer visitors during winter months than during summer tourist season. The other visitors attending when we were there were obviously LDS families. It was hard for me to imagine that over 11,000 people lived there at its peak. The current population is published as 1100 (that seems high). One of the missionaries told us that although the town does have a Dollar General Store, there is not even a proper grocery store there now and they have to go to Keokuk or Fort Madison Iowa to buy groceries.

During winter months the historical sites are open with reduced hours. During winter, the historic homes and buildings are locked but if you go to the visitors center you can ask for a missionary to escort you within. Knowing that there would be some proselytizing involved, we opted for this and had a very nice senior missionary who gave us a personal tour and told us about the buildings and people who owned them. She was quite kind and friendly (although naive about historical facts) and spent a lot of time with us at our own pace in the buildings we wanted to see. (Since there were very few visitors when we were there I'm sure there were no constraints on how long the missionary could be with us.)

The most eye-opening thing I saw was inside Brigham Young's home. In the conference room there, the missionary explained how Brigham Young met with others to plan the exodus from Nauvoo to the West. They made extensive plans and developed lists of provisions that each family of 5 should have for the trip. A facsimile of the provisions list document is posted on the wall of the conference room. I was surprised (and rather amused) to see that among the list of provisions was clearly listed as "tea," "coffee," and "alcohol!" This got a good chuckle out of our group and it clearly caught the missionary by surprise. I pointed out to the missionary about tea and coffee and asked why they would be bringing these across the plains if Church members were following the Word of Wisdom. The missionary gave an impromptu word salad answer about possible non-dietary uses but no one took her answer seriously.

There are a lot of small brick homes, scattered among the grounds near historical buildings with standardized blue numbered signs that indicate "private residence." These were newly built in a historical style by the LDS church for missionary housing. I guess this is OK and they do fit in with the overall appearance of the "village" but it would be nice if they could have done more rebuilds of actual known homes and found other areas to build missionary housing. Perhaps they might do that in the future.

During the summer tourist season, there are pairs of missionaries stationed inside each of the buildings that do the standard presentation. One interesting thing we learned is that they have "performing" missionaries who apply for spots as traveling musicians in various buildings. Potential LDS missionaries with musical talents can be nominated by their bishop for a spot and then submit a video as part of the application process. We were told the videos are evaluated by staff in Nauvoo (I would have suspected SLC). After the summer season the performing missionaries go to conventional mission sites.


Unlike many of the other historical sites, there are still pageants performed in Nauvoo during July and August. They actually have two different pageants presented on alternate nights (We were told one tells the story of the British migration to Nauvoo and the other describes life after arriving). The important roles are specially cast, but spots as extras in the shows are filled by Church families applying and volunteering for those sports.

Although the overall twist of the site is to present the LDS church in a historically favorable and sanitized way (as I fully expected), I still found it interesting. We were there for 1 1/2 days and didn't see everything in the LDS historical area or in the town. It's clear the aims of the Church are to continue to develop the site as a family pilgrimage /proselytizing site. They have wagon rides and other kid-friendly things available. We liked visiting when there were few visitors but it would also be interesting to visit in the summer when there are more events going on. That being said, I think, personally, that it could be a little bit triggering for some to be there in the busy summer months with hordes of TBM families, tour buses everywhere and in a typical tourist trap environment.

One thing that doesn't get much attention and that I wasn't aware of is what happened in Nauvoo after most of the settlers left. The Temple building was destroyed by fire and a later tornado with only one wall left standing. A group of French Icarians attempted to establish a colony in Nauvoo but it eventually failed. (Descendants of the Icarians established a winery outside of in Nauvoo that is still operating). There was a Catholic monastery there near the temple site but its buildings were torn down after being purchased by the LDS church to build new buildings. Unfortunately there isn't much to see as far as the the Icarian settlement or the former monastery.

Thanks for your report! It sounds like an interesting place.

Sounds like the Jesuits decided to erect a RC church on that hill to put their stamp on the town. Very petty, but they're good at the mindgames too.

Churches tend to be zoned into the same area of a town. Plus maybe there were enough Catholics in the area that a church was needed. And I didn't know the Jesuits were a church-building order. I thought they mostly did schools and monasteries.

Brother Of Jerry Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Churches tend to be zoned into the same area of a
> town. Plus maybe there were enough Catholics in
> the area that a church was needed. And I didn't
> know the Jesuits were a church-building order. I
> thought they mostly did schools and monasteries.

Jesuits do from time to time. They have the fanciest Catholic church in my area (other than the cathedral).

Last time I was in Nauvoo was on a clear February day in 1978. I was driving with my dad back from Chicago and he decided to swing down and check Nauvoo out. We went to Carthage and took the tour. Then we drove to Nauvoo hoping to get some late lunch there. There was nothing in Nauvoo. It was a run down town. It was depressing.

The temple site was an empty lot. We went down the hill into the old part of Nauvoo which was mostly overgrown lots and run down old houses. Some historical properties were taken care of but Nauvoo was a depressing state of nothingness.

Thanks for the report. Re pageants - LDS Inc did not discontinue all pageants, just those that had BoM characters in them. The one at Nauvoo, and a few other non-BoM pageants are still going. That to me was the biggest indication (along with claiming the word 'Mormon' now makes baby Jesus cry) that the LDS Church was planning to eventually lock the BoM in the attic with the BoA.

Your report is also another confirming datapoint in my claim that the church plans to eventually open a series of "settling of the West/Manifest Destiny" historical sites that will be quasi-national historical sites, complete with campgrounds and staffed by 'service missionaries'.

I know the Aaronic Priesthood restoration site in Harmony, PA did a major redevelopment 5 or 6 years ago that included reconstructed houses for JS and Emma Hale, a large chapel (out in the middle of nowhere) and repositioning and widening the highway at the church's expense. I visited shorty before the new site reopened, and asked the construction manager if they owned more undeveloped land. He said yes, they had a couple hundred undeveloped acres. Sounds like a good area for a campground/RV park to me.

And now of course both Kirtland and Nauvoo are primed for the same sort of development.

The sites I envision:
Sharon, VT (JS birthplace, near Revolutionary War sites)

Palmyra, NY (church organized, major religious revival, near birthplace of Women's Suffrage Movement, near Erie Canal and industrialization of the NE US.)

Harmony, PA (Susquehanna River/Chesapeake Bay was major waterway in developing NE US)

Kirtland OH (beginning of westward expansion of US, gateway to industrialization of MidWest. )

Nauvoo, IL (land of the Missouri Compromise, lead up to Civil War, gateway to the West)

Winter Quarters, NE (Mormon and Oregon trails start nearby). the church owns land around the Winter Quarters site, and there is a temple nearby in NW Omaha.

Chimney Rock, NE (this area in western NE does not figure prominently in Mormon history, but it is on the Mormon/Oregon Trail, and Chimney Rock was a major pioneer landmark and way point. The LDS Church has a major ranch in the county by Chimney Rock, and recently made a second major purchase there. They now own oodles of land situated to be a historical site on the Oregon/Mormon trail. It is a good location for them. The other historical sites are a short to medium one day drive apart. Winter Quarters to Martins Cove, WY is a very long one day drive, but Chimney Rock site splits it into two medium one day drives.

Martins Cove, WY. The church tried to buy a chunk of BLM land and the BLM refused to sell, would only lease it to them, in spite of serious pressure from Mormon Congressmen. The church owns a ranch that includes the part of the site that is not on BLM land. They have more than enough land to build a historical site and campground/RV park.

And lastly, SLC Temple Square, This Is the Place Monument, yada yada yada. Thanks for giving us your name and address every time you registered at one of our RV parks on your history tour of the American West.


I could also see branch sites in Moses Lake, WA, Mormon Row in Grand Teton NP, Mormon settlement of Mesa, AZ, Mormon settlement of Idaho Falls, and the Mormon connection to Sutter's Mill, and maybe even Donner Pass.


I'd bet the farm that this is actually going to happen. Kirtland and Nauvoo are major pieces needed to make it happen. They already own what they need at all the other sites.

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/36486/pg36486-images.html

"You maintain that your prophet is sent to establish a third
dispensation. I demand, therefore, what signs are given to prove his
commission?"

The old man replied, that the healing of the sick, the casting out of
devils, and the speaking of unknown tongues, were very frequent in the
"Latter-day Church." I said that signs of that kind were of a very
doubtful description, since the imagination possessed great power over
the nervous system. I inquired whether Smith had ever walked across the
Mississippi, or brought a dead man to life, He replied in the negative;
but said, that among them the blind received their sight, and the ears
of the deaf were opened. I then observed, "You perceive that I am rather
deaf, and you say that I have no faith. Now can you open my ears so that
I may hear your arguments more distinctly?" Immediately the old man
stepped forward, and before I was aware of his object, thrust his
fore-fingers into my ears, and lifting up his eyes, uttered for about a
minute in a loud voice some unintelligible gibberish. "There," he said
finally, "the Holy Ghost prompted me to do that, and now you have heard
the unknown tongue." "But my hearing is not improved," I said. "That,"
he replied, "is because you have no faith. If ever you believe the Book
of Mormon, you will immediately recover perfect hearing, through the
gift of the Holy Ghost." I looked at him somewhat severely and said,
"Take care, old man, what you say. When you employ the names of Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, you should speak with awe and reverence; but you
and other Mormons here, as far as I have observed, employ the most
sacred terms with the most disgusting levity. How miserable, how barren
were your services on last Sunday; how cold your worship, how utterly
unedifying and farcical your preaching."

...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/12/2024 06:24PM by Maude.

I think Brother of Jerry's analysis makes sense.

It does seem that the Church is gradually distancing itself from claims that the Book of Mormon is actually a true account historical events, and dropping the pageants is part of it. A missionary told me that the BOM pageants were dropped because leaders in SLC told local leaders that they could keep them but that they pageants had to be funded locally, rather than by Church HQ. Local leaders then opted out. I don't believe that at all.

I agree that the Church seems to be thinking that establishing historical visitors centers can help promote faithfulness among the believers and also provide missionary opportunities. To add to the potential list of sites I might add there could also be
additional sites in Canada, where several communities were founded based on the actions taken by Brigham Young.

Claiming that it was local leaders that opted out of doing BoM-related pageants is as laughable as the claim that the sanctioning of the September Six was a completely local decision.

Re church history sites in Canada - Cardston certainly figures prominently in the early settlement of Alberta. The problem there is that Bountiful, BC still is pretty regularly in the news over polygamy, and Cardston was founded as a polygamist colony. I think the church would prefer that connection be forgotten. Bountiful is an offshoot of the Cardston polygamists.

Also, Cardston is a sad medium small town of about 7,000 people that is right next to one of the largest First Nations Reserves in Canada. It really doesn't fit the image Mormons want to project. The Cardston Temple is impressive, but it looks wildly out of place, given what the rest of the town looks like, IMHO.

I wonder if I'll live long enough to hear church leaders proclaim that mormonism is the ultimate construction of what the bible teaches ghawd's church must be and is solidly, uniquely based on the teachings of the bible...

One of the first steps of this proposed evolution was Nelson's desire to get rid of "mormon".

I wonder how long it will be before they put a Visitor's Center out at MMM.

I didn't grow up in Utah, so didn't have a year of Utah history in HS (surely MMM gets mentioned there, no?), but I did spend half of my adult working life in Utah. I was in my fifties before I ever heard of MMM. It is not a subject that is mentioned in polite company, especially polite Mormon company.