We had the opportunity to visit the church history sites throughout Missouri. It was a fun, nice break from our everyday routine. First stop, Far West, MO. At
Far West, the church has a beautiful park and memorial.
You can also see the cornerstones that were laid for a temple by the early saints.
While there, Dexter enjoyed picking up all the leaves that he could and throwing the hedge apples that had fallen from the tree.
After Far West we went to
Liberty Jail. The jail itself was torn down, but thankfully an early church historian had taken detailed measurements and descriptions about it, so that it could be recreated.
There were 6 men kept in the basement of this jail. Only 5 are modeled because Sidney Rigdon, the 6th man imprisoned, was too sick to stay there. He was also freed sooner because he chose to represent himself in court and gave a speech that was so elegant it won the people over. The other 5 men hired lawyers and were not as fortunate as Sidney Rigdon. The 5 men were: Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Alexander McRae, Lyman Wight and Caleb Baldwin. They were there 12/1/1838-4/6/1839, during the coldest recorded winters in that area. It was so cold that the Missouri River froze over and in order for that to happen in needed to be -31* or colder.
This is a basement window. There were only 2 of them.
This is the upper level. This is where the guards stayed. There was only a trap door in the floor down to the basement. There also isn't a door knob on the inside, so the guards were locked in with the prisoners.
The walls were 4 feet thick. They were designed as an alarm system if a prisoner tried to escape. The first foot was a log wall. If a prisoner succeeded getting through that layer, the second was a foot wide layer of small rocks, that would fall out and make a loud noise, alerting the guards they were trying to escape. The third layer was a 2 foot wall of limestone. The ceiling also had rocks on top of it. It was designed so that in case the prisoners tried to escape through the roof, the rocks would fall on them. The inside measured 14x14.5 feet. The basement as only 6ft tall and several of the men were taller than that.
I didn't realize it, but this is where Joseph Smith recieved the revelation for Doctrine and Covenants chapter
121,
122, and
123.
After Liberty Jail, we went to the
Independence Visitors' Center. It was like a mini Salt Lake Visitors' Center. It was more about introduction to the church instead of church history.
The Christus statue that you see when you walk in.
In the basement, there was a little cabin and play area for kids. Dexter LOVED the hoops that they had to play with.
Dexter driving a wagon
Right across the street from the Visitors' Center is the Church of Christs' (formerly the RLDS church)Temple. We didn't go on a tour of it but you can if you want.
We also found the temple site, designated by Joseph Smith and the place where one of the marker stones was laid by Joseph Smith. The actual stones are in the Church of Christs' Visitor's Center. We didn't go there eitherThere are 173 acres that the early church owned. It is now owned by 3 different churches. Three acres belong to the Church of Christ Temple Plot, 60 acres by the Church of Christ, and the rest by the LDS church. We learned that when the time comes, there will 24 temples in this area. WOW!
After that, we had dessert at
Clinton's Soda Fountain. This is the place where Harry S. Truman, the 33rd President of the USA, had his first job (back then it was called Clinton's Drugstore). According the a plaque outside, he "obtained his first job at 3 dollars a week. He opened the store every morning at 6:30, mopped the floor, cleaned away the trash, polished the jugs and bottles, worked at the fountain, and clerked".
Then we crashed in our hotel for our free night!
