Maryland Trip Day 2

Carthage!!! After driving a full night and almost the rest of the next day, my cohorts (Brent - Amber's Father, Moana - Amber's Mother, Nick - Amber's Brother, and Amber - My Wife) and I reached a stopping point in our travels to Maryland. This is a picture of Carthage Jail that I took. It was the jail that the prophet Joseph Smith was killed in.

We took the tour and listened to the Elderly missionary who asked that he not be quoted. It seemed he was worried that he was going to be mis-quoted in the Ensign. I'm not sure what that was all about. So all I can say is he talked about Joseph and Hyrum Smith's deaths.

This is the staircase that the mob rushed up to reach the room where Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, John Taylor and Willard Richards were being held. The room is up the stairs and to the right.

Next is a picture of a bullet hole in the door. The bullet that created this hole continued through the left side of Hyrum's nose and killed him almost instantly.

He was the first on to fall during the attack. Next John Taylor ran to the window and was struck in the hip by a bullet fired from the doorway, then next by a bullet that came in through the window. The second bullet hit his pocketwatch. Next Joseph Smith went for the window. As he made his move to the window we was struck almost simultaneously by two bullets fired from the doorway and two bullets fired in through the window, mortally wounding him as he fell out the window. This window in fact...

This is a picture of Amber and I outside of the Carthage Jail.

After we were done here we went to Nauvoo to try to see a few of the sights there and to check in to our hotel. The first big site, and in my opinion the most beautiful thing to see here in Nauvoo is the recently reconstructed Nauvoo temple. It is much prettier in person than in any photograph. Nonetheless, here is another picture of it.

We reached the temple just as the sun was setting. It was awesome to see it sparkle in the warmth of the setting sun. Next we proceeded just down the road to see the Mansion House, the Red Brick Store, and the site where the Joseph, Emma and Hyrum are buried.

This is a picture of the sign at the front of the site where their bodies are layed, along with the wording.

“Smith Family Cemetery
The Smith Family Cemetery is the final resting place of Joseph Smith, his wife Emma, and brother Hyrum, Lucy Mack and Joseph Smith Sr., and many other family members and friends.
After Joseph and Hyrum were assassinated at the Carthage jail on June 27, 1844, their bodies were returned to Nauvoo where they laid in state in the dining room of the Mansion House. Fearing for the safety of the bodies, the coffins were emptied and buried in a tomb near the temple while the bodies were secretly buried between the foundation walls of the Nauvoo House. When construction of the Nauvoo House resumed in 1845 they were secretly reburied under a small building (now reconstructed) southwest of the Homestead.
In 1928, Frederick Madison Smith, president and prophet of the church from 1915-1946 and grandson of Joseph Smith Jr., hired Kansas City, Missouri, surveyor W.O. Hands to locate the unmarked graves of Joseph and Hyrum. Once located, they were moved a few feet north and reburied for the final time.”
-Community of Christ

So basically here is a picture of the three different places where their bodies were buried, including their final resting place.

So, the first place they were buried war in the top left of the picture, with empty coffins buried at the base of the tree where the granite gravemarkers are currently located. Then when construction was continued on the red brick building in the back the bodies were moved and buried under where the shed is now, in the far right of the picture. They were later moved and buried under the granite gravemarkers that now correctly mark the final resting place of their mortal bodies.

Here's the Red Brick Store. Lots of history there.

*Sigh* A lot of info, right? It was all fascinating to see in person. It has kind of brought home to me the actual esixtence of a man that I have only ever heard about. Now that I've been to some of the places he's been and seen and heard these things, it all seems a lot more real to me!

It has been a fun trip so far and there is still a lot to see and share. For now you'll just have to make due with a picture of me! Followed up by a beautiful picture of the sunset to wash the nasty taste of my self portrait out of your mouth!!!