050115

Catching up a bit here...

We had a nice day visiting a couple more sites in Nauvoo after the first of the month.  The Seventies Hall was the old meeting hall for the missionaries when all of the Saints were here in Nauvoo.  It's a beautiful building that was built some years ago.

Front of the Seventies Hall.  Note the inscription at the top.

We got to stand at the front of the hall at the lectern and pose for this picture.  Quite an honor.  ...because we are temple missionaries...I bet you say that to all the missionaries...

The recovered stone at the center, top is one of the original star stones from the original Nauvoo temple and one of the few remaining pieces left.

We then walked down the "Trail of Hope" where they have excerpts from diaries of the pioneers as they left Nauvoo.  Some of the comments are real tear jerkers.

Trail of Hope looking North.  Note signboards on left.  They are every 20 feet or so for a 1/4 mile down to the river.

Parley Street heads down towards the Mississippi where the Saints headed West for the Salt Lake Valley.  The description of this road was being filled with wagons for many days, sun up to sun down in February.  It got so cold that the Mississippi was frozen over the last few days so they could just walk across.

It's much farther across now than in 1846.  A dam was built in 1913 to harness the power of the river and raised the river about 20 feet.  It's pretty shallow most of the way across except in the cent where the barges travel up and down the river.

The Saints floated across the river, where they could, with their wagons on these barges.

As the Saints left Nauvoo, they cast their last glances at their beloved temple, sitting on the hill, before walking across the river.  This is about what it would have looked like as they walked away from Nauvoo on Parley Street.