Nauvoo, Illinois And Fort Madison, Iowa

Nauvoo, Illinois is noted for having been the headquarters of the Mormon church, before their leader Joseph Smith was killed, and most of the rest headed west afterwards to what eventually became Salt Lake City, Utah.  The first site in I visited in the town is a stone arch bridge that was built by Mormons after they settled in the area.  This is the downstream side.

I was able to get a shot of the upstream side, but the bridge was somewhat obscured by vegetation.

Next to the parking lot for the bridge is this memorial to the area's veterans.

Nauvoo includes the Joseph Smith Historic Site, which is run, not by the Mormon church based in Utah, but by the Community of Christ, which formerly called itself the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  The site includes the Nauvoo House, which may be rented out overnight by groups of people.  I don't know what the building was used for when the Mormons first settled in the area.

Joseph and Emma Smith lived in this house, now called the Smith Homestead, after the Mormons moved into the area.  Part of it looks like it might have looked back then, while the rest appears to have been modernized.

In front of the Smith Homestead is this log cabin.

Near the Nauvoo House and the Smith Homestead is the Mansion House.  The Smith family moved from the Homestead to here, which is basically just across the street.

Soon after taking these pictures, I headed northward to a small town named Niota, from whence I crossed the Mississippi into Fort Madison, Iowa.  Here is where I encountered a major disappointment.  In the following picture, some waters of the Mississippi have entered what would normally be a parking lot.  Fortunately for the railroad, its tracks were elevated enough to be higher than this flood.  The freight train in the background was indeed moving.

I could take a picture of this caboose, but couldn't reach it by foot, unless I wanted to wade.  Such an attempt would probably have been reported to Fort Madison's finest.

The city's namesake fort, which I had hoped to visit, was turned into an island.

I left Fort Madison and headed westward and then southward for Missouri.  For more on Nauvoo, Illinois, go here and here.