One of the most wonderul things about living in Ohio is that we have to opportunity of living so close to so many cool places to visit, especially Church History sites. We thought we'd take advantage and go see some significant places in our church's history. Our first stop on the way back from Syracuse was Fayette, New York, home of the Whitmer Farm.
For those of you that don't remember from your seminary days what is significant about the Whitmer farm, it is the place where the church was organized. This is the room where the prophet along with about 60 people stood to witness the organization of the true church in the latter days.
Here we are...standing in the spot where the prophet stood....
The room upstairs where Joseph and Oliver translated much of the Book of Mormon.
The Whitmer farm...this is where the Three Witnesses were shown the plates Joseph was translating
Next stop....Palmyra. What an amazing experience! The only thing that would have made it better would have been if it weren't sprinkling/raining all day!
First stop in Palmyra...the Hill Cumorah.
This could be the scene from any hill or mountain anywhere, but trust me, it's not! It's looking up the Hill Cumorah, a place where major history took place!
Looking down the hill from the top. This is where the Hill Cumorah pageant is held each year.
One more look up the hill as we were on our way down...with the monument in the background this time!
The next stop on our Palmyra adventure took us to the Grandin Press. This is where the first 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon was first published. I have to admit, I thought this tour would be so boring, but it really was sooo interesting. Just hearing the stories of how much sacrifice was given to make this book come into existence was really cool. Martin Harris sold off 150 acres of his land to finance the $3,000 to print the book (that would be like $70,000 in today's money). These men had such faith!
The 3rd floor of the store where the printing took place
First floor book store
One of the first 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon
More than anything, I will remember the Grandin Press because as we were starting out the tour with a movie, Tucker had one of his awful coughing attacks, which triggered his gag reflex, which made him puke allover himself and the floor of the visitors center (thank goodness we were the only ones on the tour at the time!) He has left his mark in a historical site!
Then...we went and saw my absolute favorite part of Palmyra, the Smith Farm and the Sacred Grove.
In front of the log house the family lived in (which has been rebuilt on the original foundation).
The room where Joseph first read those words from James 1:5 and first saw the Angel Moroni...gives me chills!
The frame house that Alvin started building before he suddenly passed away. The family finished this house and lived here, it's probably at least double the size of the small log cabin.
The Palmyra temple, which is right across the street and up the hill from the Smith's home. I didn't know this, but it is the only temple in the world that has clear glass windows along just one side. When President Hinckley was overseeing the design, he wanted the one side to have all clear glass windows so it could look over the Sacred Grove...pretty cool!
My favorite part of the tour....the tour guide let us venture off into the Sacred Grove on our own.
What an awesome place! Even with the rain and the cold temperatures, you could feel that this place was so special. President Hinckley has called this the second most Sacred place in the world today. The place where the Father and Son appeared together. I can just imagine Joseph wandering off behind his house and saying his special prayer here.
It's definitely not what I pictured in my head, I always pictured it green, beautiful, with flowers and such, but like I said before, such an awesome feeling to this place. This is also the location where the 8 witnesses were shown the plates.
All in all, we had such a great day visiting these places, walking where the Prophet once walked and so many significant events took place. I can't wait to take Tucker back when he can actually remember seeing all these cool things!
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3 comments:
Looks like you guys had a great spring break and were able to see a lot! I
WHAT A FUN TRIP!!!!!!!!!!! I love all the pictures!!!!!!!!
You guys have been doing such neat things! How awesome that you live so close to these neat places! I am so jealous and just reading your post is giving me goosebumps! Hopefully one day we will make it these places. And that is interesting about the clear windows in the temple, very cool!
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