2. The first thing we saw was a family of geese crossing the road. I think I want to live here, but only in the late spring and early fall.
3. Toured the Smith Family Log Home in Palmyra.
Smith Family Log Home
Around 1818 the Joseph Smith Sr. family built and moved into a log house in the woods several miles south of the village of Palmyra, New York. On the 100-acre property that became the family farm, young Joseph and his brothers and sisters learned to work hard, love each other, and do as they were commanded of God. The Smith family read together from the Bible and "always had family prayers"1 in this home.
Fourteen-year-old Joseph was living here at the time of his First Vision in the spring of 1820. Three-and-a-half years later, in the upstairs bedroom where he and his brothers slept, Joseph prayed to know his standing before God. The angel Moroni appeared and taught the young prophet about a restoration of divine truth and authority in which he would participate.2
Most of the family moved into a new frame home on the farm in 1825. Five years later, they all moved away from Manchester. When the Church purchased this property in 1930, the log home was no longer standing. A replica was rebuilt on the original site and dedicated by President Gordon B. Hinckley in 1998.
3. Toured the Smith Family Frame Home in Manchester (just a small walk down from the log home).
The Joseph Smith Sr. family moved into a new frame home in late 1825. Alvin Smith, Joseph's older brother, started construction on the house on the Smith farm in 1822. After Alvin's death in 1823, the family completed it.
Joseph brought his new wife, Emma, to live here in January 1827. Eight months later, he and Emma drove a carriage to the Hill Cumorah, where Joseph received the golden plates from the angel Moroni. The Prophet often kept the plates hidden inside and around the frame home. Persecution forced him to leave Manchester in late 1827, and Joseph and Emma went to live with her family in Harmony, Pennsylvania.
In this home, Joseph learned that his scribe Martin Harris had lost 116 pages of the Book of Mormon translation. Later that year, a schoolteacher named Oliver Cowdery came to board here with the Smith family. Oliver learned of Joseph's work, and in the spring of 1829 he went to Harmony and became the Prophet's new scribe.
Elder George Albert Smith purchased the frame home and farm in 1907 and later conveyed ownership to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The home was renovated and restored to its original condition in 2000.
Alvin Tree
When Alvin died, the Smith family planted a tree near the home in memory of Alvin. This tree is believed to be Alvin's tree planted in the late 1820's. How cool it that!
4. Walk through the Sacred Grove.
Sacred Grove
The Joseph Smith Sr. family moved to this 100-acre property in western New York around 1818. Joseph Smith Jr. labored with his father and brothers to remove trees and prepare this heavily forested land for farming.
"On the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring"1 of 1820, young Joseph went into these woods to pray, to a place where he "had previously designed to go."2 Here, God the Father and His resurrected Son, Jesus Christ, appeared to Joseph Smith to commence the Restoration of the gospel in the latter days.
Joseph Smith's family moved away from this farm in 1830. The Church acquired the land in the early 1900s. The exact location of Joseph Smith's First Vision is unknown, but it occurred somewhere within a 10-acre forest on the western boundaries of the farm. This forest has been referred to as the Sacred Grove since 1906.
Hill Cumorah
The golden plates containing the Book of Mormon were buried in the Hill Cumorah, about three miles southeast of the Smith family farm. In the early hours of September 22, 1823, the angel Moroni showed Joseph Smith in vision exactly where the ancient record was hidden. Later that day, Joseph went to the place shown him by the angel.
In A.D. 421, Moroni, the last survivor of a great civilization that had inhabited the Americas since about 600 B.C., buried in this hill a set of gold plates on which was recorded the history of his people. In 1827, Moroni returned as an angel and delivered the plates to Joseph Smith, who translated them and published them as the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ.
"On the west side of this hill, not far from the top, under a stone of considerable size, lay the plates, deposited in a stone box,"1 wrote Joseph. He was not permitted to remove the plates on his first visit, but was instructed by the angel to return to this place every year "until the time should come for obtaining the plates."2 Exactly four years later, the angel delivered the plates to the Prophet Joseph for the purpose of translation and publication.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints acquired the Hill Cumorah in 1928. A granite monument topped by a nine-foot statue of Moroni was erected at the highest point of the hill in 1935. Today, the Church operates a modern visitors' center at the base of the hill. A dramatic pageant featuring events from the Book of Mormon is held here every summer.
6. Toured the Peter Whitmer Farm. Had granola cereal and fruit for lunch. Jarin and Trevor were such naughty little boys on the way to the farm that they lost the privilege of eating lunch that day. I think I found some cracker wrappers under the seat later that day -hmmmm.
Peter Whitmer Farm
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized in the Peter Whitmer home at Fayette, New York, on April 6, 1830, at the Lord's command. Joseph Smith had come to stay at the Whitmer home in June 1829 to escape persecution in Pennsylvania. Within a month of his arrival, the Prophet completed the Book of Mormon translation, the angel Moroni showed the golden plates to the Three Witnesses, and the Lord revealed procedures for establishing His Church.
On April 6, about 60 friends and family members crowded into the 20-by-30-foot home to witness the organization of what was then called the Church of Christ. Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were sustained as the first and second elders in the Church. On that occasion, they offered prayers, blessed and passed the sacrament, and received divine revelation. Following the service, several in attendance were baptized, including the Prophet's parents.
Joseph received many revelations while living at the Whitmer home. The first three conferences of the Church were held here, and missionaries were sent from this place to the western frontier of the United States, baptizing many people in Ohio and some in Missouri.
In 1831, the Whitmers moved to Ohio. The Church purchased 100 acres of the Whitmer farm in 1926. The Whitmer home was rebuilt on its original site and dedicated in 1980 by President Spencer W. Kimball.
July 2001
Sniff and a tear wipe.
How precious!
Book of Mormon Historic Publication Site
The Book of Mormon was first printed and sold in the Grandin Building located in downtown Palmyra, New York. After translating the golden plates, Joseph Smith "agreed with Mr. Egbert B. Grandin to print five thousand copies"1 of the Book of Mormon. Publication of the book was financed by Martin Harris, a family friend who mortgaged part of his farm to guarantee the $3,000 printing cost.
In mid-August 1829, the Prophet Joseph, with Martin Harris, Oliver Cowdery, Hyrum Smith, Joseph Smith Sr., and several others gathered around Grandin's press to print and inspect a proof sheet. Joseph declared the work was "excellent," and printing of the book began.2 The Book of Mormon was first offered for sale in Grandin's bookstore on March 26, 1830, as another witness of the divinity and mission of Jesus Christ. It also provides tangible evidence of the prophetic calling of Joseph Smith.
The Church purchased the Grandin Building in 1978 and opened it as a historic site several years later. At the conclusion of extensive restoration in 1998, the building was dedicated as the Book of Mormon Historic Publication Site.
Danish immigrant Carl Christian Anton Christensen was one of several first generation artists in Utah to utilize the panorama phenomenon. Using this popular artistic format, Christensen depicted events from the scriptures and the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His devotion to his church and its precepts is evidenced in his art and his multiple missions to Scandinavia.
C.C.A., as he was affectionately known, was born November 28, 1831 in Copenhagen, Denmark to parents of humble means. At the age of eleven, C.C.A. was placed in a government-funded orphanage, where he was able to continue his education. During his three years at the orphanage he received training as an artisan while pursuing his academic studies. Impressed by his innovative paper cutouts made for the orphanage Christmas tree, a prominent Copenhagen woman offered to finance C.C.A.'s training at the Royal Academy of Art in Copenhagen.
After joining The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1850, his enthusiasm for his training at the Royal Academy of Art was replaced by his zeal for missionary work. At the end of two consecutive missions to his native Denmark and Sweden, he made arrangements to immigrate to the United States. Along with four other couples, C.C.A. and Elise Haarbye were married on the sailing ship Westmoreland before leaving Liverpool Harbor. Upon arriving in the United States in 1857, they joined a handcart company in Iowa City and made the three-month trek west to Utah.
On arrival in Utah he tried his hand at a number of odd jobs before settling in central Utah's Sanpete County to farm the land. It was not until the early 1880s that C.C.A. realized the religious and financial potential for his art work -- an opportunity to share his testimony of the gospel through art and at the same time realize a profit for his efforts. In addition to creating four panoramas dealing with religious subject matter, he collaborated with his friend and fellow artist, Dan Weggeland, to decorate the ceiling and cornice of the Logan Tabernacle and paint murals for the St. George and Manti Temples. His paintings of pioneer life and his native Denmark documented the life of the Saints in the early history of the Church.
8. Quick visit to where Martin Harris' Farm used to stand. An 1850 Erie Canal lake-stone home is now located on the site.
9. A walk through the old cemetery to see Alvin Smith's grave. The new headstone encompasses the original stone.
10. A quick trip to Wal-mart to find dinner. Corn dogs in the microwave and veggies. The kids ate happily while watching the Disney Channel before showers and bed.
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