Nauvoo and Mark Twain

Nauvoo Temple

Nauvoo is where the Joseph Smith and his Latter Day Saints created their own community in 1839 after being chased out of other communities. The name means “beautiful place” in Hebrew. In a little over six years this area changed from wilderness to the largest town in Illinois other than Chicago with 12000 inhabitants. Most of the town was laid out in 4 acre plots, each house had an acre. The residents started in log cabins, but many built brick homes. They began to build a temple in 1841, but it was never completed. After Joseph Smith was killed in jail, the people realized that here too, they would be harassed and they started to cross the Mississippi on their way to Salt Lake City. We stopped in the visitor center and then toured the old city on a wagon ride. Many of the original brick building are there including Joseph Smith’s Store and Brigham Young’s house. Other lots are empty or just have foundations, but you get a sense of how this community might have looked in the 19^th century.  In 2002, they rebuilt the temple in the style of the original. The town obviously must be filled with Mormons on tour during the summer when they have pageants celebrating the history of the town.

Villa Katherine

We stopped briefly in the town of Quincy, Illinois to see Villa Kathrine. Built in 1900 by George Metz after his world travels, the villa overlooks the Mississippi. It is a unique piece of architecture modeled after a villa in Morocco. Outside, you immediately notice the minaret on one end. Inside it has a courtyard with interesting Arabic style lamps and small rooms around each side.  It was very different from anything else built here.

Our final stop was Mark Twain’s boyhood home. The town has created quite a museum around Mark Twain, his boyhood home, and some of the other houses and shops nearby. It was clear after visiting how much of the stories that he told were based on his own experiences here in Hannibal. Many of his characters also come from friends and schoolmates during his childhood. The Mark Twain museum had displays based on some of his most famous stories: Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, and Innocents Abroad. Upstairs were the original works of Norman Rockwell used to illustrate Tom Sawyer in the 1940’s. This is a must stop for fans of Mark Twain. 

Mark Twain's boyhood home