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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

November to April
Closed

4 to 28 May 2022
Wednesday to Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. 
Closed Sunday

1 June to 15 August 2022
Tuesday to Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Closed Sunday

16 August to 28 October 2022
Wednesday to Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Closed Sunday

Directions

contact

Connect with us for more information about the Joseph Smith Historic Site. 

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nauvoo house rental

This historic house is available to rent for overnight group housing.

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history

From a small grove in New York to the South Pacific islands and the African savannas, diverse places and peoples make up Community of Christ’s story.

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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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