The Nauvoo Exodus Commemoration Walk

Yesterday, we walked down Parley Street.  We did it as part of an annual commemoration of when the original Nauvoo residents were forced to leave their homes in early February and flee the mobs into Iowa and then trek onward to the Rocky Mountain west.  At that time, in 1846, there were many of our pioneer ancestors that lived in Nauvoo.  I don’t know what the weather was like in 1846 but we do know that it was cold.  On the first day of the exodus (Feb 4^th) the wagons needed to be ferried across the Mississippi River into Iowa.  A few weeks later, the Saints were still streaming out of Nauvoo as quickly as they were able to outfit themselves.  By the 15^thof February, they were driving their wagons across the ice as the Mississippi River had frozen over, allowing them to do so.  A few days ago someone here and now had drilled a hole in the ice, so that they could determine just how thick the ice is this year.  At the point where they measured, the ice was about 22 inches thick.  About that same time, it was reported that someone had driven their pickup out onto the ice - having fun sliding around on the ice-covered river.  This year, the river has been iced over for the last two months – this being one of the coldest winters ever recorded here in Nauvoo.

 

Yesterday’s activity commenced at the Family Living Center, just behind the historic cultural hall on Main Street.  There we congregated and enjoyed a continental breakfast.  We then had a little program where we sang and listened to tributes made to the early saints.  We then went outside and fell in line for the parade.  We were led by missionaries decked out in the uniforms of the Mormon Battalion.  These were followed by others carrying several flags, reminding us that many of the early saints had just migrated from those countries not long before.  This group was followed by a horse drawn surrey where Brigham Young and his wife, represented by two missionaries, rode.  Other horse drawn wagons followed carrying a few children and others that would have had trouble walking the route to the river.  Everyone else walked the distance, being on either side of the wagons and surrey as we went.  We arrived at the river where we had a very short concluding program where we had a flag-raising ceremony performed by our “Mormon battalion” and we all sang “Come, Come Ye Saints”.  The weather was good.  A light snow was falling and there was not a lot of wind blowing – so it was tolerable!  Much easier for us than for our ancestors that continued on, on a trek well over a 1000 times longer, burying many along the trail as they went and rejoicing months later when they finally arrived in the Great Salt Lake valley.

This picture was taken last year

 

Yesterday’s events brought participants from far and wide; I am told some came all the way from San Diego, CA.  A symposium (or series of lectures) was also conducted in several of our meeting places around Nauvoo on Friday and Saturday where people could learn more about our Nauvoo history.  This brought many to the temple as well.  Friday, we had almost three times more endowments performed than we did the week before.  We are always glad to have visitors come to the temple.  Frequently, during the winter months, a high percentage of our endowments are performed by our own ordinance workers assigned to be patrons because few others come – especially when the weather gets ugly.