Carthage Jail and Nauvoo, Part 3

First thing Saturday morning we went to Carthage Jail. It is a very special and solemn place. First we watched a 20 minute video about Joseph Smith's life in the visitor's center. Then a sister missionary took us into the jail, where she showed us the kitchen, the downstairs cell, the dungeon cell upstairs, and finally the bedroom where Joseph and his brother Hyrum were killed. Both kids were fine during the tour, but once we sat down and started listening to the story of what happened on June 24, 1844, Aidan started getting really agitated. He couldn't sit still, and he kept saying, "I want to get out of here. I want to go home right now." After we left the jail, he became his usual happy self. He definitely felt something he didn't like. Although it was a very sad time for the members of our church, the martyrdom of Joseph Smith helped seal his testimony and knowledge with his blood.

Brothers Ethan and Aidan, standing in front of the statues of Brothers Joseph and Hyrum
Next we went to the blacksmith shop, where one of the senior missionaries made Ethan a small horseshoe. (He also gave Aidan a premade one.) The boys loved watching the fire be "stoked up" (with electricity).
Ethan holding his horseshoe. Yes, I realize I cut off part of his head in the picture. I need photography lessons.We also went to the brick maker/masonry/I don't remember what it is called. They have a demonstration of how they made bricks in Old Nauvoo, and why it was better to build brick houses than wood ones (because the trees in Nauvoo are hollow, so they had to go get wood from far away). Then we got our brick to take home. I wasn't taking very many pictures by this time. I got lazy. So here's a picture from their website: There were quite a few covered wagons dotting the neighborhood. Here's one I thought to take a picture of.
We went to the Pioneer Memorial, where they have the names listed of everyone who they have record of who perished on the trek out west. I was trying to take pictures of the last names who I knew I was probably related to (Hyde and Rushton; I'm sure there are probably more but I didn't do my homework before I went). Aidan thought it was so funny to jump into the frame right before I clicked. He did this probably 6 or 7 times before I could actually get a picture of the names. By then, kids were tired and cranky. So we drove home, stopping at the Tanger Outlet Mall (with all of the same cool stores at the outlet mall in Park City) and spent lots of money! What a blast. We had a fantastic weekend, and can't wait to have another mini vacation again (we're thinking Independence, Missouri and Liberty Jail in a few weeks).