Photographs: Two of the Boswell children scraping mud off a memorial on the ground at the Haun's Mill site, the official marker at the Haun's Mill site, the Liberty Jail site, the monument to the Book of Mormon (and cute Sariah Boswell) at the pioneer cemetery in Richmond, Missouri.
On Sunday afternoon (May 30th) we went to the Independence, MO LDS Visotors' Center with the Boswell Family. They have a nice film there and a lot of interactive exhibits that the kids loved showing us. We stayed with Joshua and Margie Boswell and their nine children from Thursday night through Monday night. By the time we left, I pretty much had all the names matched with the right children, five boys and four girls. They are great kids and their parents seem to have infinite patience.
On Monday Margie packed a picnic lunch for everyone and we set off first thing in the morning to visit Richmond, Liberty Jail and the Haun's Mill site. Richmond has a beautiful old pioneer cemetery which is owned by the LDS Church and contains a monument to the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon. We also drove by the grave of Peter Whitmer in the newer city cemetery. Richmond is where a number of men in the early LDS Church were jailed, including Isaac Morley.
Liberty Jail is a somber place. The original jail has been partially rebuilt inside of another building, and it is easy to imagine how depressing this incarceration must have been for the men involved during the winter of 1838-1839. The men, including Joseph and Hyrum Smith, are portrayed in the cellar cell of the jail by life-like mannequins.
We had quite and adventure looking for the Haun's Mill site. It is really out of the way, almost an hour's drive from Independence. It's on a dirt road that gets very muddy in the rain. We had been told at Nauvoo that the Haun's Mill site was inaccessible, but Joshua adeptly found the way and kept his vehicle (a 15-passenger van) out of the mud holes. When we arrived at the site, one of the children was asleep, so we left her there with the door open while the rest of us got out to look around. She soon awoke and got out of the van, closing the door (and locking it) behind her. Unfortunately, the keys were also in the car. We were stranded (all 13 of us) in a very obscure place and it was very hot and humid. The kids were great though. Joshua and a couple of the older children tried to figure out a way to get into the door lock mechanism, Rand walked down the road with some if the kids to look for something or someone that might help and I got on the phone with AAA to see what they could do to help. The whole problem was solved when those working on the window accidentally popped the window and it shattered. It made a mess but no one was injured and we all made it back to the Boswell home safely.
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