Red Bricks & Homesteads
The 5th of March, 2024, started in a routine manner – up early, opening meeting at the FM shops at 7-AM, then off to the John Taylor home, specifically the missionary housing attached to the back of the structure. The kitchen is a complete redo and the living room and upstairs bedroom/bathroom are getting new paint. The special meeting scheduled for 2:30-PM was not routine. The FM missionaries gathered in an upstairs conference room and learned that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints had just acquired the Joseph Smith historic sites along Water Street in Nauvoo from the Community of Christ.
These sites include the Joseph Smith ‘homestead’, the Nauvoo House and Bidamon Stables, the Mansion House, and the Red Brick Store. These sites are highly coveted locations to anyone interested in LDS Church history. Nauvoo’s first Hotel, Sidney Rigdon’s home, the Clark home and several other structures and homes were part of the acquisition and news of the transaction spread like wildfire…it is exiting news!
Our missionary housing, in the Henry Thomas home, is very close to all of these places, I can see them all from my front porch. These places are presently, my neighborhood.
How will this change of ownership affect a visitor’s pilgrimage to Nauvoo? My previous trips to Historic Nauvoo were everything I expected them to be. Was my experience dependent on the proprietor of the site? Did I feel a change of Spirit at a property line? Will these historic sites be less historic in the future…or more? Is the Spirit different or metered depending on who is hosting who?
I am excited for the changes, perhaps mostly because of the prospects before me to participate, as a missionary, in the preparation of these sites to be presented to future visitors!
But I am also grateful for those who have persistently protected and maintained these sites from the ravages of time, the effects of environment, vandalism, neglect, or destruction!
Historic Nauvoo will always be a special place because of what took place here, the unfolding of restored Gospel principles, and the character of those who transformed a swamp into a beautiful place.
My walks down Water Street, past these sacred historic sites are moving. A visit to the Smith family Cemetery is sobering. I know that this won’t change. The sites in Nauvoo have a spirit of their own, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, a Spirit that will continue in the hearts of all who walk the historic streets of Nauvoo.
