Nauvoo

This past weekend was quite interesting. I went to Nauvoo to speak at a Young Single Adult conference--young people from Kentucky and southern Indiana who are members in the stakes I visit regularly. This was my first time in Nauvoo, so it was a special time. Below are a few pictures:

The Nauvoo Temple, shining in the afternoon sun on a bluff above historic Nauvoo.

I met a nice family from New Zealand--the Fitzpatricks. They had already been to Salt Lake, Palmyra and Kirtland. After a few days in Nauvoo, they were headed for Jackson County, MO.

The Fitzpatricks and I road in a covered wagon pulled by a team of oxen, not far from the mighty Mississippi at the jumping-off point for the Saints headed west.

Two sister missionaries in the post office/general store.
The graves of Hyrum, Joseph and Emma Smith. The largest part of historic Nauvoo is owned and operated by the LDS Church, but a significant section is operated by the Community of Christ. The Smith graveyard is in that part.
As I said, my purpose in going there was to speak to the Young Single Adults--about 60 strong. The "fireside" began in the late afternoon in a grove of trees below the temple. After about 20 minutes of preaching in the great outdoors, just like the pioneers, it started to sprinkle, so . . .
. . . unlike the pioneers, we moved indoors. The Seventies Hall was built on Parley Street for use by the Seventies as a school; sort of an 1840s MTC. We would have started there but the missionaries didn't want to "close" it to other visitors before regular closing time. They relented because of the rain. For me, it was a particularly meaningful way to end the fireside. During the Nauvoo period, the quorums of the Seventy grew from a few hundred to a few thousand. Here are pictures of the outside and the inside of the Seventies Hall.

In the evening, we attended "Sunset on the Mississippi", a musical review put on by the missionaries and others. It was everything you could want--a parade, patriotic songs, silly songs, dancing, jokes, audience participation--there was nothing it didn't have. And the best part was all those older missionary couples up there pulling it off. (There were a few ringers--probably BYU Program Bureau types.) The grand finale had a chorus line of senior sisters doing a routine with walkers. Very funny!
Early Sunday morning I drove to Carthage. Ordinarily, the jail would have been closed then, but I happened upon a small group that had arranged a special tour, so I joined them and got to see the jail as well.
Sunday morning we had a sacrament and testimony meeting, after which there was a group photo.
Before leaving Nauvoo, I drove to the pioneer cemetery, where I found this headstone from our ancestor, Washington Taggart, who joined the Church in Peterborough, N.H. with his two sons, migrated to Nauvoo, and died of cholera in 1843. The stone was placed there by the George Washington Taggart Family organization several years ago.
I'm thinking Nauvoo would be a great venue for a family reunion!