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We have been taking a bit of a vacation from teaching in the Burlington Ward on Sundays while the new summer missionaries are getting settled into their new assignments so the weekly assignments are not there.  We have to new couples assigned there, the Atkinsons and the Jeppsons.  Last year we had a few more.  We've been given no assignments for teaching since we came back from the two week hiatus from teaching the last class.  Nice for a change.  So, this past Sunday we decided to go visit a couple of the sites here in Nauvoo we haven't had a chance to see yet.

We spent a little time at the Blacksmith Shop and watched him make a small horseshoe and he gave us all "Prairie Diamond Rings" for souvenirs.  That is a horseshoe nail pounded into a ring.  Long story...

He gave the horseshoe he made to the young boy that belonged to the couple on the right.  You can barely see the top of his green hat between Mom and Dad.  They were Mennonites (most likely) from the local area.  The Amish don't use mechanized forms of transportation but they dress about the same.  There aren't any Amish/Mennonite living around Nauvoo so the carriage was not outside and that is the only way the Amish travel around the area.  Nice people, though.

The other section of the blacksmith shop for the demonstration of building the wooden wheels.

We then moved over to the Tinsmith Shop to see what was over there.  It is a block over from the Blacksmith Shop.

Entrance is on the left as it was both the home and shop.

The house portion and a fancy wood stove.

Demonstrating some of the items in the shop and how the tinsmithing was done.

Some of the work done.  Each lantern was specific for each owner so you could tell who was coming up the street at night.  Pretty clever, I'd say.

We then went over to where the oxen rides are offered during the week because they have a lot of signboards that you can read that tell stories about individuals and their struggles with the teams they dealt with.  However, the gnats made it difficult to spend a lot of time there.  They are pretty horrific this time of year.

This is representative of the wagons they used in the mid-1800s.  Certainly wasn't like a Volvo.

A signboard comparing horses and oxen.  Made it pretty easy to choose oxen over horses when you were heading out across the plains.

A nearby shot across the "Mighty" Mississippi.  Look, no ice!  That is one big river!