Nauvoo exodus re-enactment scheduled for Feb. 4
E-mail story
It's easy. Send a link to the story you were just reading to a friend. Just fill out the form on this page and we'll send it along.
Your name and e-mail address are transmitted to the recipient. Otherwise, it is considered private information; see Privacy policy.
NAUVOO, ILLINOIS
On February 4, Historic Nauvoo, a visitors’ attraction maintained by the Church, will stage a re-enactment of the 1846 Mormon pioneers’ exodus from Nauvoo.
The event starts at 9:00 a.m. with a continental breakfast in the Family Living Center, followed, at 10:00 a.m., by a procession of horse-drawn wagons and carriages, military units, and pedestrians along a parade route leading from the Cultural Hall down “The Trail of Hope” to a memorial kiosk at the edge of the Mississippi.
This is the point where Mormon refugees crossed into Iowa and began their trek to the Rocky Mountains. Many of the marchers will be wearing badges that carry the names of ancestors who were part of the original migration. A short memorial service will take place at the river bank.
The annual event commemorates an episode of American history that saw the resettlement of an entire community and its institutions into an unknown wilderness. At its zenith in 1845, Nauvoo rivaled Chicago in size and economic vitality but irreconcilable differences between the Mormon population of the city and other residents of Hancock County at time led to deadly conflict.
After Mormon Prophet, Joseph Smith, was killed by a vigilante mob in 1844, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints elected to remove themselves from the area rather than escalate the tensions into armed struggle.
Thousands of Church members followed Brigham Young across the plains to settle in Utah and other Great Basin states.
Currently accessed from SR 96, Historic Nauvoo encompasses homes and shops from the pioneer period that have been restored or recreated to provide a glimpse of the pioneers’ achievement. Most prominent among these buildings is the reconstructed Nauvoo Temple of the Church, dedicated in 2002 and built as much as possible to duplicate the original which was destroyed by fire in 1848. The buildings are open, free to the public, every day of the year. Additional information can be had at www.historicnauvoo.net.
