Saturday, June 4, 2016 – P’day, Visit Benton’s Port Iowa, Mormon Pioneer Trail

We don’t usually work on our P-day but we’ve gotten into the habit of cleaning the sidewalks on Saturday morning so the visitor’s center looks nice for the guest. This morning while I was washing bird poop off of the sidewalks (there is always a lot and it looks really bad) a family arrived 30 minutes before the visitor’s center was scheduled to open. While they waited I had a nice talk with them. The grandmother told me that they were members of “The other Mormon Church.” They were from Michigan on their way to Independence for the “Worldwide Conference of the Community of Christ.”

The Community of Christ Church used to be called the “Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” In our conversation it was very clear that Carthage Jail, Nauvoo and all of the history here has just as much significance for them as is does for us. Just like us, the room in the jail where Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were martyred is sacred and hallowed ground.

For P-day Sis. Johnson and I drove to Benton’s Port, Iowa. (The official name of the town on the map and at the post office is “Bentonsport,” IA.) We heard that there was a quaint little tourist town with shops, antique stores, beautiful gardens, etc.

 

When we got there we discovered all that and more. It turns out this little town on the Des Moines River was a way station and resupply stop for Mormon pioneers on their way west from 1848 on! Who knew?

We spent several hours in Bentonsport walking through all of the little stores & shops. And, trying to resist the temptation to buy everything we saw. 

In the General Store and Gift Shop we picked up a brochure published by the National Park Service titled, “Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail.” When unfolded, it had a map over four feet long showing the entire “Mormon Pioneer Historic Trail.” It starts in Nauvoo, then shows Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming and ends in Salt Lake City. It shows every major point of interest with explanations and descriptions along the pioneer trail. It even has all of the modern US roads on the map so a person can follow the trail by car and visit all of the historic landmarks, museum and points of interest.

This would be a very interesting and educational road trip to take some day. Maybe, when Sis. Johnson and I are released in September 2017, on our way home we can follow the pioneer trail as we drive west.