Welcome to Nauvoo, 1846!

It was the first day of the Trek and I was in Nauvoo! We recreated the entire town! The Trek families were divided into groups and every 30 minutes we did a round robin so all the families got to visit all the stops. We had speakers at each stop to talk a bit about what would happen there in a typical day. There was a gunsmith shop, blacksmith shop, wagon shop, bakery, mail office, general store, schoolhouse, personal homes, and even a jail! 

We recreated Carthage jail. Carthage is a small town about 20 mile southeast of Nauvoo. The prophet Joseph Smith was murdered in this jail in 1844. The 'actors' in the jail told this story. The entire day was a mix of history lessons about what life was like in 1846, as well as a stop in the bakery to gather food supplies and a trip to the wagon shop to pick up their handcarts! It was super fun!

I didn't get many pictures of the hussle and bussle of the day because I was busy! Most of the day I was in the general store with my quilt - teaching the kids how to tie it. The day was over before I knew it! I didn't even get to visit the gunsmith or blacksmith shop! (They were outdoors and had fires going.)

I did manage to take a few pictures before everyone arrived in 'town'. So here is a snapshot of what it looked like:

A corner of the schoolhouse.

 A corner of the general store.

In this picture of the bakery, I am looking out of the ordering window. The families came to the window to order their food supplies. (Everything was rationed, but they did get a few choices in what they wanted to eat.) There were also 'bakery displays' located around the room.

The bakery.

The post office.

The schoolhouse. 

In this picture of the general store, you can see my pink quilt sitting in the middle of the room.  That is where I was stationed. The tables in the back were for each family to have a practical exercise in gathering clothing and supplies from around the room. Once they picked what they thought was necessary for the trip, the items were weighted. The families were allowed 17 pounds per adult and 10 pounds per child. It was an eye opening exercise to show how very little the pioneers got to take with them. If their handcart weighed too much, they would not survive the grueling trip to Salt Lake City! (This wasn't their real clothing for the 3-day Trek -  just a history lesson. Each person got a list of what to bring with them beforehand. However, they were not allowed to bring anything that was not on the list! Everything they brought on the Trek had to fit in a 5 gallon bucket!)

The general store.

Overall, it was a wonderful day! Everyone had lots of fun and learned a bit about what life was like in 1846 before the pioneers left Nauvoo.

I am soooo glad I got to participate!