Farewell Carthage Jail Visitor's Center

It's always great to have friends and relatives visit Carthage Jail. 

Welcome nephew, Jeremy Connell!

See the picture below. I'm trying to give you a flavor of the bugs that plague our trip between Carthage and Nauvoo. The collection of bugs on our bumper is really just the tip of the ice berg. Until we replaced our windshield wipers last week, we couldn't use them unless it was raining heavily because the bugs were so big and thick that the wipers smeared our view more than cleaned it off. It's really quite disgusting, but you probably got the picture.

We are leaving Carthage and moving to Nauvoo this week. Terrible timing since our kids are coming for granddaughter, Ellie Olsen's baptism this week. However, it may work out for the best anyway since we'll have a few days off.

Below are pictures of the Historic Carthage Jail, Visitor's Center, and grounds. 

As you see, it is a peaceful place geared for thousands of visitors. We will miss Carthage and the opportunity it brought to feel the sweet spirit of those who gave their life for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Back side of Carthage Jail

West side of jail showing copper covering of air conditioning coils

I don't think the air conditioner is original but we sure like having it. :) 

Front of Jail

Summer Kitchen on right built in 1850
There was a lean-to kitchen made out of wood in 1844 so the restoration department left it as is.

 Dining room for jailer, George and Jen Stigall.
They had seven children and all of them lived at the jail in 1844.

 Parlor

Furniture and knickknacks are typical for the period but none of them are original of course

 Hall to debtor's cell

Stairs leading to dungeon cell and George Stigall's master bedroom

 Replica of keys to dungeon cell along with a rascal beater

 The key works!
Dungeon cell

 Window on the left is the one that Joseph Smith fell from when he was shot

The hole you see in the door is the one made when Hyrum Smith was shot and killed.

Willard Richards used George Stigall's desk taking copious notes of the day's events on Wednesday June 26, 1844.  Willard was Joseph's personal scribe and secretary the last two years of Joseph's life.
Willard lived to witness the terrible martyrdom June 27, 1844

Outside the visitor's center in route to the jail

Inside the Visitor's Center 

Portraits of Joseph and Hyrum Smith

We performed Friday, August 8th in Sunset By the Mississippi for the last time this summer.
Below is a picture of the outdoor stage. It seats 800 guests, but is only full during the month of July when the Nauvoo Pageants are performed.

 During the pre-show while guests are arriving, the Nauvoo Brass band plays while missionaries and guests dance. We are usually good for about one dance each show.

Ouch! Are those mosquito or chigger bites?

The biggest drawback to performing Sunset By the Mississippi is that the stage is outside. When you're sweet, you're sweet, and this poor sister must be over the top in sweetness. Sister Kupfer was so chewed up after hosting Sunset By the Mississippi that she had to resort to herbal swabs with band aides for added protection.

 No one is sure whether she had mosquito or chigger bites. It was probably a combination. Whatever it was, you may want to make a note to yourself. A little bug repellent is well worth the effort if you're hanging out along the Mississippi River. The outdoor stage holds about 800 guests. I cringe when I see children rolling around in the surrounding fields of grass. The mission sprays for chiggers, but that apparently doesn't get rid of all of them. (The Mission Doctor here provides Permethrin spray to deter chigger bites.)

Farewell Nauvoo
The Nauvoo mission has a breakfast prior to missionaries departing for home. This month all of the Young Performing Missionaries as well as a host of others were honored. After breakfast, the "soon-to-be-departed-ones" perform a skit and or song. Below are a few of the performers.

 The majority of missionaries are needed in the summer months when crowds come for the Pageants so many missionaries begin their service in the spring and end after the second summer.

 We are loosing two couples from Carthage within the next few weeks. News for Elder Johnson and me is that we will be moving to Nauvoo in about 10 days. Initially, we were told that our "jail sentence" would be six months so it looks like we are getting out on good behavior since we've only served here for 3 1/2 months. :) The crowds of people usually dwindle a week after the Pageants end so the new couples here should have a relatively easy transition.

More Numbers:
We had over 20,000 guests at the Carthage Jail in the month of July 2014. 

August hasn't slowed down for us yet. Elder Johnson and I were required to work today (Sunday, August 3rd). We had over 800 guests in four and a half hours. We are exhausted!!!!! Did I say, "We are exhausted" ?

The end....I'm going to bed!

Yikes...the babies have taken over the jail!

Elder Johnson had an interesting group last week. Let me give you some back ground. Children are always welcome at Carthage Jail, but some are less of a distraction than others. We can entertain children as young as three or four years old depending on their maturity and make-up of the rest of the group, but children younger than that are usually bored. Brigham Young used to say, "Crying children like good intentions should be carried out." Occasionally, a toddler is out of control and the parent is so anxious to be here that they ignore their screaming offspring. It is rare, but occasionally a young'n can cause havoc for the whole group.

So this week Elder Johnson took a group of 29 consisting of five or six families. Twelve of the group were children under the age of seven which is fine, but five of those kids were under age fifteen months. Unfortunately, all of the parents had gone into la la land and were ignoring the squeals and cries. We usually have five stops throughout the jail ending with the last stop in the jailer's master bedroom where Joseph and Hyrum Smith were martyred.

Well, by the time Elder Johnson got to the martyrdom room as we call it, it appeared that the parents were deep in a trans as all five babies ran amok. I can just see it...five toddlers climbing in the window seals, under the antique bed, and balancing on the benches meant for weary guests.  Those babies took the center stage right away from Elder Johnson and though incredibly cute, couldn't really tell much of the story.

Okay, well you can imagine the rest. Elder Johnson merely talked loud and tried with little success to focus on the message to be given. Who knows if anyone heard a thing. What do you do?

Tip for parents: There was one clever mom who entertained her baby with a waded up Kleenex. She took a clean tissue and made it into a ball. With a ball that couldn't roll into hidden corners or make any noise whatsoever, she played fetch with it. Wow...so clever. Her baby did fantastic and the whole group benefited.

Wow! What a ride!

As predicted, we have hundreds of guests every day. On Sunday, we are only open from 12:30 to 5 PM. Our top number in Carthage for Sunday so far is 976, though Elder Johnson and I had the day off that day. We worked today however, (Sunday July 20th) and had 692 guests. I can't imagine 300 more. In fact the question is, "How did they do it?"

None the less, we work hard to make every tour worthwhile. Most of the guests have traveled for days to get here so we try to keep that in mind and not give them less than a stellar experience.

 One day as we were about to take one last tour through the jail, I had a feeling to let Elder Johnson take the tour even though it was my turn. I was glad I hadn't taken it when Elder Johnson told his experience of having one guest throw a fit at the end of the tour. As the man in his twenty's walked out, he exclaimed, "How can you honor a man who practiced polygamy and broke the law?" 

It would have been pointless, but I would have been tempted to declare, "Polygamy wasn't against the law in the United States. It was made illegal in about 1880 with the Edmund's Act and more specificly a few years later with the Edmund Tucker's Act, but it was purely targeted at the Utah saints who lived in American Territory. It was never meant for the states because there were numerous citizens who came to America from other countries who had more than one wife. I also could have explained that there is a big difference between polygamy and plural wives which members of the church practiced between sometime in the 1840's and 1889. In 1889 the church came out with the Manifesto at which time plural marriage was suspended for all members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in good standing. 

Elder Johnson did the right thing. He just let the man leave and continued on with his tour for the other guests. I wonder sometimes why protesters like this man want to make a scene. Remember, he came to us.  I guess some people just like contention and go out of their way to find it (which is truly strange in my mind).

 The Nauvoo Brass band comes to Carthage every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon for a 20 minute performance. They are really just warming up for Sunset By the Mississippi but we love that they share their talents with us. It sure gets the neighbor's attention. As far as I can tell, they like it as well.

Below is a family entering the film room with Sister Ross and Elder Phillippi posing. We show an 18 minute film entitled, "Impressions of a Prophet". The film isn't shown anywhere else in the world and is a good way to gather guests as well as space the tours apart. Most guests choose to watch it before entering the jail.

 Elder Johnson below just put a group in the film room and the visitor's center is finally open.

 Some of my cousins and their children came to Carthage and then to Nauvoo to experience the Pageant. We joined them and loved the pageant.

 There are thousands of guests at the pageants each night. They run Tuesday through Saturday and there are two different pageants this year. One is about the saints building the city of Nauvoo including the temple. The other one is about saints in Britain and their story of coming to Nauvoo.

 The young sisters gave us this heart attack one evening while we were at Rendezvous. It was after a particularly hard day and it made us laugh for several days. (Most of the comments are only funny to us--sorry.)

 On our preparation day last week, we went to a reenactment of the King Follet address. King Follet was living in Nauvoo when he died in an accident while helping to dig a well. (He wasn't royalty, but simply given the first name of King.) Joseph Smith talked at King Follet's funeral a few months before Joseph was martyred. He spoke for 2 1/2 hours addressing all who had lost loved ones and is quoted often for his insight. The young performer below spoke for about 20 minutes recapping some of what Joseph said. It was fabulous.

 Bagpipes played at the King Follet address.

 Below are a few pictures of guests waiting to take a tour. It gives you a taste of what we experience some days.

Marjorie Hinckley, wife of President Gordon B. Hinckley (President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints between 1995 and 2008) said, "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, “Wow what a ride!”

Elder Johnson and I are taking this thought to heart each day as we fall into bed exhausted.