Susan Easton Black doesn't just love Nauvoo. She also loves Venus, Commerce and the City of Joseph.

These names were all used at different times to describe a town on the Mississippi River in Illinois — a town that is "the largest land mass dedicated to the memory of any one man," according to Black.

The Church History Museum in presented Black as part of its "Evenings as the Museum" event on Thursday. The museum was full of tours, historical re-enactors and other special presentations. More than 100 people gathered in the basement auditorium to hear Black speak on "Nauvoo, Then and Now."

When Illinois became a state in 1818, it was the frontier. Some of the land was desirable, Black said, and some was undesirable. One piece of land that was undesirable was a piece of swampland on the Mississippi. A man named James White was "the first white settler" in that area, Black said, recounting an old pun.

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