Demonstrations in Nauvoo
If you are travelling with kids, don't miss the Family Living Center of Historic Nauvoo. It's a hands-on experience your family will love.
You will step back into pioneer times as you see handicrafts made the pioneer way. Kids will love watching and listening as the missionaries, dressed in period clothing, demonstrate weaving, baking, and rope making the way pioneers did it in old Nauvoo!
Family Living Center
The Family Living Center is FREE. It is located on Main Street in Old Nauvoo behind the Scovil Bakery (don’t miss the free gingerbread cookies at the bakery while you are there!).
The kids will love the demonstrations in a 19th-century trades such as spinning, bread making, candle making, pottery, rope making, barrel making, and more!
2010 Operating Schedule:
Jan 1 - May 22, 2010: Monday – Saturday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm; Sunday 12:30 pm – 5:00 pm
May 22 – Aug 21: Monday- Saturday 9:00 am – 6:00 pm; Sunday 10:30 am – 6:00 pm
After August 21: Monday – Saturday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm; Sunday 12:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Read about one family's visit to the Family Living Center below.
Our Nauvoo Visit
"Our family visited Nauvoo in the spring. Nauvoo was beautiful, and we loved seeing the buildings in Old Nauvoo. One of our favorite places to see was the Family Living Center.
We listened to one of hte missionaries at the Family Living Center explain how the Nauvoo pioneers used cotton and wool to make yarn. The women then used it to knit or crochet sweaters, blankets, socks, and other things.
We watched one of the missionaries demonstrated rug weaving. Then we got to help make rope--the Nauvoo way! First, the rope making "material" is stretched on a special machine. One person turns a big wheel (pictured at left) that turns the rope. Two other people (pictured below) use a special tool to make sure the rope strands twist evenly. Then the ends of the rope are carefully tied to make sure they don't fray.
We even got to take our rope home with us from Nauvoo!
Another thing we saw at the Nauvoo Family Living Center was pottery making. One of the missionaries showed us how the pioneers in Nauvoo used clay to make pottery bowls and vases.
It was really interesting to see the pottery wheel in action! The pottery had to be fired in a special oven to make it hard.
Then the pottery was used to hold everything from flour to oil. The pioneers sure were busy!
Another thing we enjoyed seeing in the Family Living Center was a wagon, loaded with everything a pioneer family would need when they left Nauvoo. It had pots and frying pans, flour, sugar, oil, lanterns, kettles, and barrels. There was rope (hand made!) and an extra wagon wheel--wheels often broke on the journey across the plains.
It was fun to imagine the pioneer children walking along with their families. It must have been sad to leave their homes in Nauvoo, but the pioneers knew that in their new home they would find rest from the persecution they had faced for many years. In their new home, they would build another beautiful city like Nauvoo!"
Don't miss a visit to the Family Living Center on your Nauvoo trip!
