Insiders’ Guide to Historic Nauvoo

Fleeing persecution in Missouri, Joseph Smith and his followers, known as Latter-day Saints, arrived in southwest Illinois in 1839. Smith named the town Nauvoo, hoping it would live up to its Hebrew meaning of a “beautiful place” to rest.

in History
January 24, 2017

Photo, Jason Lindsey.

Sunrise over the Nauvoo Temple, overlooking the Mississippi River in Illinois.

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More than 10,000 Mormons called Nauvoo home until 1844, when persecution arose again, spurring their migration to Utah. Today’s living-history sites bring the Mormon era to vivid life. Key events in the early days of Mormonism, a religion now counting about 15 million followers worldwide, played out in this frontier village.

Nauvoo Today

A day in this town of 1,200 people along the Mississippi River provides a glimpse into the roots of a homegrown American belief system. Key events in the early days of Mormonism, a religion now counting about 15 million followers worldwide, played out in this frontier village. At the visitors center, travelers browse through historic artifacts and displays, including a relief map of Nauvoo in 1846. Guides driving horse-drawn wagons take visitors on free 30-minute tours past more than 30 historic sites downtown.

At the Joseph Smith Historic Site, a guided walking tour begins with a short film and continues through the Joseph Smith Homestead and Mansion house. The Red Brick Store, once the epicenter of community life, still operates as a general store selling old-fashioned games and other goods representative of items found on the same shelves in 1842–44. The tour passes the Smith Family Cemetery and Nauvoo House, a boarding house now available as a rental. Amid downtown’s restored shops, homes and public buildings from the 1840s, look for monuments honoring Smith and other figures.

At the Webb Brothers’ Blacksmith Shop, watch demos and leave with a hand-forged iron ring hammered from a horseshoe nail. The Nauvoo Family Living Center offers kids hands-on experiences from the 19th century as they learn to make rope and candles, watch tour guides weave rugs from rags, and taste bread from a brick oven. The luminous Mormon Nauvoo Temple towers on a bluff overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River. Built in 2002 as a replica of the 1840s original destroyed by arson, the temple is open only to Latter-day Saints, but the public can tour the grounds.

The Post Office is one of the historic sites in Historic Nauvoo, Illinois.

Free horse-drawn wagon tours take visitors past historic sites, including the Nauvoo Post Office.

Lodgings and Restaurants

Aromas from decadent cinnamon rolls waft though the eight upstairs rooms at Hotel Nauvoo, tempting guests from their four-poster beds to join the breakfast buffet. Across the street, Grandpa John’s Nauvoo Cafe and Soda Fountain serves home-style breakfast and lunch. Enjoy a glass of wine amidst 145-year old trees and take in the vineyards surrounding the historic Nauvoo Grand Bed and Breakfast. Baxter’s Vineyards and Winery, Illinois’ oldest winery, offers free tastings and self-guided tours daily.