Anyway, after our lunch at the Liberty City Park and Splashground we headed to our next destination: Far West. It would be easy to go into a lot of Church History in this telling of our vacation because since our return I've found it most interesting... and wish I'd known more before we left. After traveling about an hour through more countryside surrounded by corn and we-weren't-sure-what-the-other-green-plant-is we arrived at Far West. The Saints settled this area in the early 1830's and were here a short time before being driven out in the winter of 1838-39 due to the infamous extermination order by Gov. Boggs. By this time there were about 5,000 living in the area in a thriving community. It was here a temple site was layed out but never constructed. What remains today are the four cornerstones that were laid for the Far West Temple on July 4, 1838 in the following order: SouthEast, SouthWest, NorthWest, and NorthEast (pictures below).
Far West, Missouri
This is an early photograph of the Far West temple lot dated 1896.
From the RLDS archives this photo is dated 1915 and shows their church historian standing on the SouthEast cornerstone.
The unknown couple here in this 1950 photo are standing on the NorthWest cornerstone.
By this early 1960's photo a sign had been erected identifying the Temple Lot.
In 1968 the LDS Church beautified the Far West Temple site and erected this monument. If you squint your eyes, you can also see all four cornerstone markers.
By 1970 the trees had grown.
And... by July 2009 this is how the area looks. The view is toward the east.
Going to your right inside the entrance is the SW cornerstone and marker.
Before the plexiglass covers were added (for protection from weather? vandals?) this is what the SW cornerstone looked like in a photo dated from the 1980's.
And... by July 2009 this is how the area looks. The view is toward the east.
Going to your right inside the entrance is the SW cornerstone and marker.
Before the plexiglass covers were added (for protection from weather? vandals?) this is what the SW cornerstone looked like in a photo dated from the 1980's.
This is the SE marker and cornerstone.
This picture of the SE cornerstone and markers was dated to the 1990's.
The monument has changed little over the years.
The benches were put to good use. Here are Christine and Marilynn.
Each panel has information regarding a few events while the Saints lived in this area.
To the left of the monument was a gate that opened to a picnic area Mom found. She's the person here in the background.
This is the NE marker and cornerstone.
This picture of the SE cornerstone and markers was dated to the 1990's.
The monument has changed little over the years.
The benches were put to good use. Here are Christine and Marilynn.
Each panel has information regarding a few events while the Saints lived in this area.
To the left of the monument was a gate that opened to a picnic area Mom found. She's the person here in the background.
This is the NE marker and cornerstone.
Completing the circuit this is the NW marker and cornerstone. There were also a few other plaques describing events that happened while the Saints were here.
The Community of Christ church (formerly RLDS) have a congregation and meetinghouse nearby. They also have placed several information markers in the area outside the Far West Temple site.
This is a view from the parking lot toward the 3-panel monument. As you can tell, it's much more lush now than in the photos from the 1960's and 1970's.
Adam-ondi-Ahman, Missouri
What does it say...
This marker identified the Grand River that flows through the valley, and also Tower Hill and Spring Hill in the distance. We'd like to have added them to our tour this day but due to time constraints (an ongoing problem this trip!) we simply added them to the list of things to see and do when we return to see the things we didn't get around to seeing this time.
Edinburg, Missouri
This is a view from the parking lot toward the 3-panel monument. As you can tell, it's much more lush now than in the photos from the 1960's and 1970's.
Adam-ondi-Ahman, Missouri
A short drive from Far West is the site of Adam-ondi-Ahman, which Orson Pratt defined the words as from the Adamic language and meaning "valley of God, where Adam dwelt." Again, I could spend of lot of time reviewing church history and the importance of this place but you can research yourselves and learn a lot! Actually it's a beautiful area and after turning off the main road we chose to go to the main viewing area which was just a short distance.
Mom decided to stay in the car and the rest of us trekked down the trail.
What does it say...
When the person with the cane....
Is the one making progress down the path?!
When we got to the viewing area there was a large group of people that we decided was probably a family (okay, several families of the same family) who were doing their church history tour also. It was interesting, as we worked our way to the various places on our vacation how we'd see people at one site that we'd already seen somewhere else.
In the distance is the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman.
This marker identified the Grand River that flows through the valley, and also Tower Hill and Spring Hill in the distance. We'd like to have added them to our tour this day but due to time constraints (an ongoing problem this trip!) we simply added them to the list of things to see and do when we return to see the things we didn't get around to seeing this time.
If you've got good eyes you may be able to read the information on this plaque that explains a bit about the valley.
Click on the movie below for a 360-degree view of the area. I was amazed how well you can hear the birds in this clip, but unfortunately you can also hear my big feet as I turn on the gravel underneath those same feet. And -fair warning- if you suffer from motion sickness you may want to skip this experience (my tripod was UPhill in the car).
Just before the large family group left we three were able to coerce one of them to snap this pic for us. The two little kids were included for no-charge.
Amish country.
Click on the movie below for a 360-degree view of the area. I was amazed how well you can hear the birds in this clip, but unfortunately you can also hear my big feet as I turn on the gravel underneath those same feet. And -fair warning- if you suffer from motion sickness you may want to skip this experience (my tripod was UPhill in the car).
Just before the large family group left we three were able to coerce one of them to snap this pic for us. The two little kids were included for no-charge.
Heading back to the car we decided to take the shortcut through the grass and trees rather than use the very gravely (and uphill) path we'd come down. Turns out by all the footprints in the tallish grass we weren't the first to make this choice. In the center of the picture is the car where Mom is patiently waiting for us.
Amish country.
One of our plans included visiting Jamesport, which is nearby, and home to Missouri's largest Amish community. But, as mentioned above due to that pesky issue with time, we had to add it to our list of things to do when we come back since it was on the 'wish' list and not the 'must' list. After leaving Adam-ondi-Ahman we were all excited to see an Amish buggy making its way along the road. So excited in fact that we were past it by the time a camera could get a picture. We thought we'd see more of them but that was not to be.
Edinburg, Missouri
Our next stop was a cemetery in Edinburg where Janice wanted to get some headstone pictures and information of distant relatives. She couldn't remember the name of the cemetery but I saw this sign as we passed by and asked her if this was the one we're looking for. Yes! was the answer so we turned around and went back to the dirt road where the sign was.
There was no indication of a cemetery from here and since our rental car was a big 'ole heavyweight Lincoln Town Car I was not real fond of the idea of forging a path through the deep grass that led to we weren't sure where and take the risk of getting bogged down in the unknown. There were already some tire marks (faintly visible in the pic below) but I didn't know when they'd been made and wasn't about to take the chance. Better safe than sorry. Janice said she'd head out and see if she could find the cemetery.
Yup, we let her go all by herself. We watched her take off with the tire track as her guide and then head off uphill to the right. She was gone a long time. Wish we'd kept track of just how long we let Janice explore. Long enough Mom started worrying. Long enough we started making up fun stories of things that might have gone wrong! Long enough that it was even considered to drive into the potential bog - but shortly wisdom abandoned that idea. Long enough that later we learned even Janice had wondered what she'd gotten into (was it snake season?) Long enough we decided to honk the car horn and if there was no response we'd send the Marilynn and Christine rescue squad. So the horn was honked and I hear in the distance "I'm coming."
There was no indication of a cemetery from here and since our rental car was a big 'ole heavyweight Lincoln Town Car I was not real fond of the idea of forging a path through the deep grass that led to we weren't sure where and take the risk of getting bogged down in the unknown. There were already some tire marks (faintly visible in the pic below) but I didn't know when they'd been made and wasn't about to take the chance. Better safe than sorry. Janice said she'd head out and see if she could find the cemetery.
Yup, we let her go all by herself. We watched her take off with the tire track as her guide and then head off uphill to the right. She was gone a long time. Wish we'd kept track of just how long we let Janice explore. Long enough Mom started worrying. Long enough we started making up fun stories of things that might have gone wrong! Long enough that it was even considered to drive into the potential bog - but shortly wisdom abandoned that idea. Long enough that later we learned even Janice had wondered what she'd gotten into (was it snake season?) Long enough we decided to honk the car horn and if there was no response we'd send the Marilynn and Christine rescue squad. So the horn was honked and I hear in the distance "I'm coming." What did Janice find?
These headstones. In a cemetery she said was very well kept along with some headstones of familiar sounding names and took a bunch of pictures.
However, after we returned from our trip Janice did some more research and informed us this wasn't the cemetery she'd been looking for, but rather another one nearby. See, one more thing to add to our list of things to do when we return!
By now it was past dinnertime so we headed to the nearest large town of Trenton where "Garmin Girl" and "Magellan Lady" (GPS units we had, more on them another time) found a few eating places -- 'few' being the key word! We "dined" at a new KFC/Taco Time.
These headstones. In a cemetery she said was very well kept along with some headstones of familiar sounding names and took a bunch of pictures.
However, after we returned from our trip Janice did some more research and informed us this wasn't the cemetery she'd been looking for, but rather another one nearby. See, one more thing to add to our list of things to do when we return!By now it was past dinnertime so we headed to the nearest large town of Trenton where "Garmin Girl" and "Magellan Lady" (GPS units we had, more on them another time) found a few eating places -- 'few' being the key word! We "dined" at a new KFC/Taco Time.
It was also a very educational stop. When a young family came in that looked like locals, Christine asked them if they could answer an agricultural question we had: "what is that short green plant growing in the fields?" Turns out they weren't all that local as they'd just moved from Wisconsin, but the guy said since it also grew there he could tell us it was soybeans! Ah, mystery solved.
After dinner we had a very long, long, long drive ahead of us as our lodging reservations were in Council Bluffs, Iowa. How long? Well, about 150 miles. Christine took over the driving but her expected easy freeway miles were hampered by construction zones of 2-way traffic. There'd be about 15 or 20 miles of regular two lanes each direction freeway and then the next 15 or 20 miles of the 2-way, reduced speed zones. We finally rolled into Council Bluffs a little after 11pm.
Whew. What a day.
Thursday's plans? Just as ambitious as today's.
Stay tuned.
No comments:
Post a Comment