There are a quite a few historical LDS sites in Missouri including the Independence Visitor's Center, The Richmond Pioneer Cemetery, The Haun's Mill Memorial, The Valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman, The Temple site at Far West, and The Historic Liberty Jail.
The Liberty Jail is only a few minutes away from where we live, so we went for a tour. :)
"Before Far West was taken by the mob militia, Joseph Smith and other Church leaders were betrayed by the colonel who led the Latter-day Saints’ forces: he turned them over to the militia. The Church leaders were illegally court-martialed and sentenced to be executed. Their lives were saved the next day when a Missouri general, Alexander Doniphan, refused to obey the order.
The Prophet and five other men, including the Prophet’s brother Hyrum, were sent to Liberty Jail in Clay County to await another trial. The lower level of the jail, where the prisoners were kept, was small, dirty, and had such a low ceiling that they could not stand up straight. The guards were on the floor above and lowered what little food they gave the prisoners through a trap door in the floor (below). The dungeon was cold, and almost no light came in through the tiny barred cell windows. They were there for four months."
"Inside the Liberty Jail Historic Site in present-day Liberty, Missouri, is a rotunda containing a replica of the jail. In the replica are mannequins representing the Prophet and his associates who were held there. Visitors can now come, sit in a semicircle around the jail, and listen to a history of what happened there."
Before we left, we read this article which helped us remember exactly what had happened during that time: http://www.lds.org/ensign/2009/09/lessons-from-liberty-jail?lang=eng&query=liberty+jail
Here are our pictures from the experience:
We actually live in Clay County, which is one of those counties that the saints were wrongfully driven from during the winter of 1838-39.
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