Liberty Jail (and the Church's Visitor Center, pictured above) is located in the ironically named Liberty, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City. Joseph Smith and a few other church leaders were jailed there from December 1, 1838 to April 6, 1839. It's sometimes called the "prison temple" since so many revelations were received there
Here's Zara, waiting for our tour of the jail to begin.
A reconstruction of the jail has been built inside the Visitor's Center. I thought it was an unique way to exhibit the jail, but well suited for the Church's purposes. With a cut-out of the jail visible, you get a great sense of the dimensions of the jail, including the thickness of the walls, without having to huddle inside the jail itself. More guests can be accommodated on the benches lined up around the jail, while the missionaries do their presentation.
I thought it made for a very interesting exhibition, though still a touch too long. Zara started to get very antsy and I had to remove her from the building.
David took over the picture-taking duties. Of course, he took a bunch more photos of tissue boxes.
After our visit to Liberty, we headed south to Independence, Missouri, another place of importance to the Church. The building above is the Church's Visitor Center in Independence, just across the street from the headquarters of the Community of Christ (formerly the Reorganized LDS church). While Independence did, at one time, host a small settlement of the early Saints, the town is significant because Joseph Smith revealed that it would be the site of the New Jerusalem or Zion during Christ's Second Coming. Basically, when Christ comes again, he's going to reign from Independence, Missouri.
This is the Community of Christ's temple. They had several buildings in the area.
There weren't many other Church-related things to see in Independence so I suggested we visit the home of Independence's most famous resident: Harry S. Truman. I've had a fondness for Truman ever since I read David McCullough's biography of him. I like that he was a simple, hard-working, and honest man who just happened to land himself in the White House, almost by accident. He dealt with some very serious issues and made some very difficult decisions during his Presidency. Through it all, I think he maintained his integrity and dignity so I was very curious to see his home.
We drove into downtown Independence, where we scheduled a tour of the NPS-run house. The park ranger who conducted our tour did an excellent job. Really, it was probably the best tour we had our whole trip. He was knowledgeable and very respectful of Truman and of the home without being overly praiseworthy. (Too often, biographers or curators of famous people fall so in love with their subject that they can't see any fault in them. I appreciate it more when they recognize that their subjects were human and therefore prone to mistakes and frailties like any normal person.) It was a beautiful, though modest home and seeing it and hearing of Truman's daily routines before and after the Presidency only reconfirmed my prior impression of the man. I highly recommend taking a tour of his home if you ever happen to be in the area.Truman loved his hometown and thought there was no better place in the world. I don't know that I'd drop everything to move there myself (though David teases that we should, just to be ready for the Second Coming), I did find Independence to be a beautiful and charming town. Really, I was quite surprised to discover how much I enjoyed our time in Missouri. Who knew?
