Nauvoo is a historical town. It was occupied by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1839 to 1846 when they left/where driven out, to start their trek to the West. Jonathan Browning had been a resident of Quincy, Illinois. He was among those who took the Saints in after their expulsion from Missouri. He met the prophet Joseph Smith and was baptized. He had been a gunsmith; and moved his residence and business to Nauvoo in 1842.
The John Brown home provides a good look at gunsmithing. John Brown was noted for developing rifling. His son would become known for developing the machine gun. There are displays of guns. The missionary docents give a description of the rifling process; which made bullets go farther and be more accurate. There are other displays of period furniture and spoons, etc; but the fascinating part of the tour was the guns. The Browning gun works would move to Utah and he and his family eventually settled in the Ogden area.
