Oxen Experience

The Oxen Experience demonstrates the significance of oxen to the Latter-day Saint pioneers in Nauvoo. These hardworking animals were valuable members of the Nauvoo community. Not only did they help in building the city and the temple, but they also assisted in the journey west to what is now Utah.

Oxen were crucial in getting stone from quarries to the Nauvoo Temple site. Rather than using wagons to carry the stones, some of which weighed over 5,000 pounds, workers suspended the stones from the axle of an oxcart. When the Saints left Nauvoo, oxen were the preferred choice of draft animal. While they were slower than horses or mules, they were strong, less-expensive, good-tempered, and easy to feed on the trail.

Beyond their physical contributions, oxen played a symbolic role in the religious lives of Latter-day Saints in Nauvoo. Because of the revelation about baptisms for the dead, the Nauvoo Temple became the first Latter-day Saint temple with a baptismal font. The font rested on the back of twelve sculpted oxen, following the model used in Solomon’s temple in the Old Testament (see 2 Chronicles 4:2-4). The first oxen used for the baptistry font were made from wood, which were later replaced with ones carved out of stone.

What to Expect

The Oxen Experience is an additional Pioneer Life experience. Along the sidewalk to the experience, interpretive signs teach about the importance of oxen to the Saints in Nauvoo. If there are not large crowds and the weather is appropriate, missionaries offer rides to visitors in the ox-wagon around a short loop. If desired, you may pet the oxen. Tickets are not required for the Oxen Experience.