Tour of the Joseph Smith Historic Site

Our neighbor arranged for us 3 couples to take a tour of the Joseph Smith Historic Site with Lachlan McKay, who is the head of the Community of Christ's historic preservation efforts. He is also a direct descendant of Joseph Smith.  It was an interesting tour, much more thorough than the one we had in September. He answered a lot of our questions.

First stop was the Nauvoo House where there's a stone marking the place of the original cornerstone that Lewis Bidemon (he pronounced it with a long i) unearthed containing the original Book of Mormon manuscript, in very bad condition. The Nauvoo House was commanded in the Doctrine and Covenants as a place to house visitors to Nauvoo. It was by a landing where the steamship could drop off visitors. It was planned to be 5 stories high, but construction got bogged down and it was never finished enough to be used in Joseph's day.

The Homestead was the first place Emma and Joseph lived in Nauvoo--a one room log cabin with a room above for the children. Then it was added onto twice. He showed us nail holes in the original ceiling beams which indicated there was lath and plaster over it. It is displayed too rustic today.

Lach McKay in front of the Homestead

The Red Brick Store nearby was the next stop. Church headquarters were basically upstairs where Joseph had an office and there was a large room for all kinds of meetings, including the organization of the Relief Society. We asked if his church had the Relief Society and he said no, but they have ordained women to the priesthood. They have never excluded the Blacks from the Priesthood.

The Mansion House was then built for Joseph and Emma and they had rooms added on for boarders. Then being innkeepers became too much for them so that part was leased and they lived in just a few rooms and ate in the mansion house dining room, which was also where Joseph and Hyrum's bodies were on display for thousands of mourners. The building was much larger then and the privy (they've found the foundation) was a 10 seater--5 for men, 5 for women and 2 for children. They recovered a five dollar gold piece from it! This was the last place Joseph and Emma lived before his death. There is a dresser that Emma bought in St. Louis. Also a chest where she stored the Book of Mormon manuscript.

He explained about the graves of Joseph and Hyrum being moved a few times and at the final interment they weren't really sure which was Joseph and which Hyrum.

Back at the visitors center he showed us this picture taken from a daguerrotype believed to be the earliest photo of Joseph. He's not so sure it's really him, although the death mask showed one eyebrow higher and a cleft chin and they have a letter saying someone gave him a black cravat.

We asked about the recent purchase of property by our church and he said the over 40 million was welcome, but they were also sad to sell it.