World Conference 2023

Joseph Smith Historic Site


The Joseph Smith Historic Site is located in Nauvoo, Illinois, USA.

The Site

Learn the story of the Latter Day Saint movement in Nauvoo during the early 1840s at the Joseph Smith Historic Site. Within the Visitor Center, you can see original paintings of Nauvoo by David Hyrum Smith as well as other artifacts and information about the city and its people. 

Plan Your Visit

Explore the Joseph Smith Historic Site in Nauvoo, Illinois, USA.

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Hours

17 September to 27 October 2023
Sunday: closed
Monday: closed
Tuesday: 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Wednesday: 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Thursday: 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Friday: 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Saturday: closed

November 2023 through February 2024
Closed

Face Masks

Community of Christ seeks to protect the most vulnerable of our community and promote a safe environment for all visitors and staff. Face-coverings may be required or not required based on institutional policy guided by public health information and our community’s values. 

Learn more about our face mask guidelines.

Directions

Smith Family Homestead


When early church members first gathered in Nauvoo, this cabin on the river became Joseph and Emma's first home. Later, in 1858, Joseph III returned to the homestead his father had used so many years before and completed the final addition where he could raise his family.

Mansion House


As Nauvoo grew rapidly so did the number of Joseph and Emma’s guests. In 1842 Joseph built this fine frame house just across the street from the Homestead. As it was being finished, however, Joseph chose to add a hotel wing on the east to accommodate their many guests. This final home for Joseph and Emma gave them space to raise their children, meet with guests, and provide rooms for visitors.

Mansion House


Today the original residence still stands. The hotel addition was demolished in 1890. While on the walking tour, guests enter the home to view the rooms used by Joseph and Emma and hear about events that took place here.

Red Brick Store


Joseph Smith's Red Brick Store became the center of community life after its construction in 1841. In addition to serving as a general store and tithing office, it also hosted many civic and religious meetings. Joseph kept an office upstairs and the large upper room was home to the first meetings of the Nauvoo Female Relief Society and other important activities.

Red Brick Store


The building was home to Nauvoo’s RLDS congregation by the 1860s but eventually fell into disrepair and it was torn down in 1890. Reconstructed in 1979 and once again an operating general store, the shelves are stocked with goods inspired by one of the original account books.

Nauvoo House


In 1841 a group of investors, led by Joseph Smith, began a joint-stock company to build a massive hotel called the Nauvoo House. Slowly over the course of the next few years, the building began to take shape. Construction continued after Joseph's death in 1844, but the walls were not yet three stories high when work stopped in 1846.

Nauvoo House


Decades after 1846 Emma Smith’s second husband, Lewis Bidamon, finished part of the structure and together they operated it as a boarding house called the Riverside Mansion. It was in this building that Emma Smith Bidamon lived during the last eight years of her life.

Smith Family Cemetery


The Smith Family Cemetery, a peaceful setting on the banks of the Mississippi River, serves as the final resting place for about twenty-four members and friends of the Smith family. Among those buried here are Joseph and Emma Smith, Hyrum Smith, Joseph Smith Sr., and Lucy Mack Smith, Samuel Smith, and Don Carlos Smith.

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