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| Nauvoo State Park, Nauvoo, Ill.
Visit the replica of the Mormon temple abandoned to ruin more than 150 years ago.
Nauvoo, Illinois, welcomes thousands of visitors every summer, drawn to its Mississippi River scenery, shady camping parks, homey restaurants and an immaculately reconstructed 1840s Mormon settlement.
The village is particularly pretty in autumn, as the coloring foliage of maples and oaks frame silvery bends of the Mississippi at the edge of town.
Visitors camp, fish, boat and hike in the shady Nauvoo State Park surrounding a lake not far from the Mississippi. You can tour local vineyards, and sample wines and the famous Nauvoo blue cheese.
Save an afternoon to tour the Mormon settlement. Costumed guides explain the history, as you tour a functioning newspaper office, brick factory and other shops and homes.
