Great River Road Trip, Day #16
Monday, May 19, 2025
Our first stop today was the town of Historic Nauvoo, Illinois.
For anyone not familiar with Nauvoo, it was the home of Joseph Smith and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). Following the murder of Joseph Smith in 1844 the members of the church - fearing further persecution - fled from Nauvoo starting in 1846; ultimately ending up in Salt Lake Valley, Utah.
The is a reproduction of the original weathervane placed atop the Temple at Nauvoo.
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This is a reproduction of the carved sandstone placed atop the columns of the Temple at Nauvoo. It represents the blaring trumpets as the sun breaks through the parting clouds.
This team of oxen were hitched to a cart to provide ox cart rides. Dan was on the left and Duke on the right in this image. As can be anticipated, Lisa felt we should have a couple of these guys as pets.
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The town is made up of these wonderful reproductions of the buildings that occupied this site in the 1840s. We were shown a photo of all that had remained of this bakery, which was just two partial walls. The rest of the building was reconstructed around those remnants. The incredible work and attention to detail was amazing. Each building is staffed by docents dressed in period clothing who explain the history of the building and its contents and how it fit into the community as a whole. The entire town is essentially one giant museum.
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These two large millstones, located behind the bakery, were used to grind grain into usable powder.
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Although we elected to walk the town, these horse drawn wagons were available to provide transportation as well as narrated information.
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More friends of Lisa’s.
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Although we didn’t have time to visit all the buildings, this tinsmith was one of the best ones we got to see. On the left is the family home and on the right was the tinsmith workshop.
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The woman that gave the demonstration of the workings of the tin shop did an amazing job. She went through step-by-step how they would have made the metal pans (seen in the middle of this image) out of flat sheets of tin.
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The Browning Gunsmith and Blacksmith shops would have been fascinating. However, they had a large school group and asked us to return when they left, but our time in Nauvoo ran out before we got a chance to return to see this one.
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The same issue occurred with the printing office, a large school group was already in the building. You got the feeling that the docents regretted that we were being thwarted by these groups and that they would likely have preferred to talk with adults as opposed to groups of unruly screaming children. But we did get to see the post office and general store.
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Walking back to the car, the absolute must-see was the Temple at Nauvoo. This is the inscription at the entrance.
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This incredible structure is clearly the crown jewel of Historic Nauvoo.
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This shot, from an angle, gives a better idea as to the beauty and size of this amazing building.
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Back in the Visitor’s Center, this model of the temple gives information on the different parts of the building.
The opposite side is a cut-away that shows what the interior of the temple looks like.
With our time running out in Nauvoo, we jumped in the car and drove to the other end of town where Joseph Smith’s homes are located. This is his original home.
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From the other side of the home.
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The family would later move from the prior home into this one. This is where Joseph Smith resided until his death in 1844.
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This plaque can tell the story much better than I can.
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Smith Family Cemetery.
The circumstances surrounding the death of Joseph Smith, Jr and Hyrum Smith are provided by ChatGPT.
“By 1844, Joseph Smith was both a religious and political leader. He had founded Nauvoo, Illinois, a rapidly growing city, and had established a powerful following. Smith had also declared himself a candidate for the presidency of the United States.
However, tensions were high both within the LDS community and between Mormons and non-Mormons. There were controversies over plural marriage (Smith had secretly introduced polygamy), political power, and economic influence. Some dissenters, including former members of the church, were especially angry.
On June 7, 1844, dissenters published the first issue of the Nauvoo Expositor, a newspaper that harshly criticized Smith and revealed details about polygamy and other controversial doctrines.
Smith, as mayor of Nauvoo, and the city council declared the paper a public nuisance and ordered the destruction of the printing press. This act was seen as a violation of free speech and stirred intense outrage in the surrounding communities.
As a result, Smith and his brother Hyrum Smith were charged with inciting a riot. Later, charges of treason were added after Smith declared martial law in Nauvoo.
On June 27, 1844, while being held in Carthage Jail in Carthage, Illinois, Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were attacked by an armed mob of about 100–200 men.
The mob stormed the jail in the late afternoon.
Hyrum was shot first and died almost instantly.
Joseph Smith tried to defend himself with a small pistol he had been given, reportedly wounding a few attackers.
Smith attempted to escape by jumping from a second-story window but was shot multiple times and died as he fell or just after hitting the ground.
Joseph Smith was 38 years old at the time of his death.”
There really is no way to have a smooth segue from the serious nature of the death of Joseph and Hyram Smith to a dead elephant; but so it is with travel, you don’t know what is around the next bend.
This is a monument erected in honor of a dead elephant named Norma Jean in Oquawka, Illinois.
The story of Norma Jean and this site from ChatGPT:
“The death of Norma Jean, a circus elephant, in Oquawka, Illinois, on July 17, 1972, was a tragic and unusual event that left a lasting impression on the small community.
According to an article from Peoria Magazine, Norma Jean was the star attraction of the Clark & Walters Circus. As the circus set up in Oquawka's town park, a sudden storm rolled in. Norma Jean was tethered to a tree with a metal chain, and a bolt of lightning struck the tree, killing her instantly. Her caretaker, known as "Possum Red," was thrown approximately 30 feet by the blast but survived.
The community faced the daunting task of dealing with the 6,500-pound elephant's remains. With no feasible way to transport her, a backhoe was used to dig a 12-foot-deep grave in the park, and Norma Jean was buried on the spot. A simple plywood sign initially marked her grave.
In the years that followed, local pharmacist Wade Meloan spearheaded efforts to create a more fitting memorial. Funds were raised to erect a monument featuring a concrete elephant statue atop a limestone base, with plaques and encased newspaper clippings detailing the event. This site has since become a unique tourist attraction, drawing visitors interested in this poignant piece of local history.”
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Just in case you thought I might be making this up, here is the newspaper article posted at the site.
Now be honest, by now you have thought to yourself, “How in the heck does he find this random crazy stuff?”
It may be mean of me, but something tells me the world might have been better off had Norma Jean lived and old “Possum Red” been the one to get cooked by the lightning. I’m just sayin’…….
Next, we stopped in the town of Aledo, Illinois; the county seat of Mercer County. They have a number of murals and we strolled the streets to check them out.
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This small building may or may not have once been the fire department. However, today, they have a nice new big building for the volunteer fire department a block away from this location.
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The Opera House may have been established in 1904, but it appeared to have just undergone a major renovation and now looks very modern and refreshed. We spoke to the Deputy Sheriff at the county courthouse and he confirmed the opera house has just undergone a significant overhaul and recently reopened.
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The Mercer County Courthouse with a statue of a young Teddy Roosevelt as a Rough Rider.
Once again, the familiar theme of a beautiful old building surrounded by green space in the center of town typifies these old county seats.
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Many of the windows have A/C units hanging out of them - not part of the original design I suspect.
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Cornerstone.
One final mural before we get back on the road. This one on Cheers Bar on Main Street.
Main street, as well as some of the small streets off of Main, have storefronts - and unlike many of the sad towns we have see - these stores were operational. They even have speakers mounted on the light posts and play music you can hear while walking the streets.
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Our final stop for the night was Moline, Illinois and directly across from our hotel was the John Deere Pavilion. Moline is the home of John Deere and the Pavilion has a visitor’s center where they display some of their new and old equipment and you can go check them out.
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Just inside the doors, this monstrosity of a corn harvester was centerpiece of the exhibit.
Another view from the side for scale.
The woman at the desk told us this machine costs $1,000,000 and is strictly set up for corn harvesting. There is another “head” you can buy for this machine that will also do wheat. We have some big harvesters up in Minnesota, but I don’t know that I have seen one quite this large in our area.
Inside the cockpit of this beast there is even a jump seat for a passenger.
The electronics are mind boggling complex. It starts to look more like a modern day aircraft than a piece of farm equipment.
This view from the driver’s seat shows just how high up and also how wide this machine really is; even with my widest 10 mm lens, I still could not get the entire width of the harvester in the photo.
A few of the other brand new modern day machines they have on offer. The ones in the pavilion are pristine, even the tires/tracks look like they have never even moved; their rubber surfaces are pristine without a scratch and polished shiny.
Next to these brand new behemoths they also have some of their older models paying tribute to the heritage of John Deere. This is a 1918 model. This once had wheels entirely made of metal and there were two wheels on the front and one in the center on the rear.
This demonstrator had the side panel replaced with clear plastic so you can look inside and see “what’s under the hood.”
