Pioneer heritage part 2

We stayed here our second night. Two words. Bunk beds. That night I took bottom with Liam and Chad took top bunk.

We took the carriage ride.  This was one of my favorite parts of the whole tour.  Liam got to see cool horses & I love history and there was some really cool stories & facts shared.

I loved a point of the ride where they stopped the wagon to point out three steeples.  Our host explained that one was the catholic church steeple, one the mormon church steeple, and the last the Nauvoo temple.  He said Joseph would've been pleased with that and told us how Joseph had said, 'If you can't enjoy and share our religious beliefs, at least come and enjoy our hospitality'.  Joseph Smith was known to be a great defender for religious freedom.

These next properties are actually not owned by the church, but by the RLDS or Community of Christ.  This part wasn't free like the previous stuff...but not bad.  $3/person.

Different homes where Emma and Joseph had lived.

Joseph & Hyrum's bodies are supposedly buried under this shed and a nearby liliac bush.  The bodies were hid, for one, because there was a reward for the head of Joseph Smith- dead or alive.

The red brick store.  This isn't the original building, but built in it's likeness.  Above the store (right picture) was a room where the Relief Society was organized and where Joseph passed all of his priesthood keys onto the twelve apostles before his martyrdom.

Before heading home, we stopped at Carthage Jail.  The Jail where Hyrum and Joseph Smith were murdered unlawfully by a mob.  Below are some of the rooms in the jail.

This is the room where they were murdered.  The hole in the door is  one of the actual bullet holes.  The upper window on the right is the window Joseph jumped from in an attempt to save his friends.  Among those friends was Willard Richards.  A year earlier Joseph had prophesied to him that "the balls (bullets) would fly around him like hail, and he should see his friends fall on the right and on the left," but he would not be hurt (History of the Church, 6:619).

A memorial to Joseph and his brother Hyrum.  I also, LOVE the quote on the below plaque.