"Winter Quarters IV"
Mormon Trail Visitors Center at Historic Winter Quarters. (3215 State St. (
) ) 
The Mormon Trail Visitors Center in Florence has played an important role in the preservation of stories, and history of Winter Quarters and the surrounding communities. Their help has allowed me to tell a fuller and better history than what I had gathered elsewhere through research and an unexplainable curiosity.
The Latter-Day Saints have a reputation for building beautiful tabernacles, especially in cities with their history. The Mormon Trail Visitors Center was the perfect place to build a new tabernacle. The tabernacle was opened in April of 2001. It is spectacular.
Today, you can visit the Mormon Trail Center at 3215 State St, in Florence, a monument to the trials and tribulations of the early pioneers. In a free guided tour, you can see an example of a primitive log cabin, ox drawn covered wagon, hand-carts, and many other artifacts of the era. The cemetery has the bronze Avard Fairbanks heroic-sized statue of a couple burying their infant child. Take your family, however, do not think that you cannot make the visit alone. Unhampered and un-rushed, you will have time to put thought to a tough era that could not kill a tougher spirit.
The visitor's center is open 9:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M. and closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas. The center closes at 3:00 P.M. Thanksgiving Eve, Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. You may contact the center at 402-453-9732
