Sunset by the Mississippi

Summer is over in Nauvoo.  The days are getting cooler and the sun is rising later and setting earlier.  We have had some rain and the grass is green again and the trees look better.  We have seen a lot of animals.

This post is just a variety of photos I thought people may enjoy seeing. 

One of the things we did this summer was participate in a show twice a week.  It was called "Sunset by the Mississippi." 



The real Sunset by the Mississippi.

 Sunset by the Mississippi was a variety show.  The Young Performing missionaries and the Nauvoo Brass Band were the best part of it, but we senior missionaries were background for them. 

The Young Performing missionaries doing a number called "Frog Kissin'" at our Sunset by the Mississipi show.  "Jump down, turn around, bend down and kiss you a frog"

A real frog.



Our "Away with Rum" temperance song.  We're supposed to look mad.  Normally we're very happy.



Mark in the opening number.

 


The Nauvoo Brass Band by the river.  Mark is the teamster on the left and Elder Call is on the right.  The horses are Joe and Jerry. 

  

 


 

Mark driving the wagon ride past the post office.

The post office is an interesting tour.  Mark and I worked there yesterday.  In the 1840's, Nauvoo had mail delivery 3 times a week.  Sometimes it came overland and sometimes by the river.  The mail was not very reliable and if they had something important to mail, they would send 2 or 3 copies to make sure it got to its destination.  Postage was charged per sheet of paper.  One thing they did to save money was write a letter on one side of the paper and then turn the paper 90 degrees and write over the first writing at a 90 degree angle.  It looks like it would be hard to read, but if you hold a plain sheet below the line you're reading, it is easier to read.     

They would save the back of the page because they folded the paper to serve as an envelope.  An envelope would have been one more piece of paper to pay for.  So they'd write the address on the back.  It cost them 6 cents to send one sheet 30 miles or less.  It cost 25 cents to send a sheet 400 miles or more.  The average wage was $1.00 per day.  So it cost them a fourth of a day's pay to send a letter.  Often they would send a letter COD and let the recipient pay the postage.  They had so many letters that didn't get picked up that they would run lists in the Nauvoo Neighbor newspaper of people who had letters that needed to be picked up.   

A sorting box in the post office.  Above is a mail satchel which could have been used to carry the mail.

Below the sorting boxes are drawers



Mark driving the wagon by the river--Horses are Chuck and Mick.

 

Deer

Duck & ducklings



Mark on the wagon ride with Chuck and Mick.  This photo is in front of our house.



The marigolds in front of our house.

 More animals




Buzzards on the river.

 


The river by Parley Street.  Some of the band members are shown.  The red buoy is on the Illinois side.  Across the river is Montrose, Iowa

When the Latter-Day Saints came to Illinois in 1839, many of them lived in Montrose for a while in some old abandoned military barracks.  Then as they cleared the land in Nauvoo and built homes here, they moved across the river to Nauvoo.