Summer vacation: Palmyra, New York

Hill Cumorah Visitor's Center

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. (hillcumorah.org)

Palmyra Temple

Brother and Sister Mancuso from Rochester, New York, their daughter, Sorella Mancuso, is serving in the Milan mission with Alison

Smith log home

Around 1818 Joseph Smith, Sr., his wife, Lucy Mack smith, and their eight children moved from Palmyra village to Stafford Road, just north of the 100 acres they planned to acquire. They built a log home and outbuildings where they resided for approximately seven years.

In late 1825 they moved a few hundred feet south to their new frame home. Their son, Hyrum, had arranged to purchase the eighty acres of land surrounding the log home. Following his marriage to Jerusha Barden, in November of 1826, Hyrum and his wife resided in the log home.

In the spring of 1829, Father and Mother Smith and their younger children returned to the log home where they lived with Hyrum’s family until the fall of 1830.

Conner reading a scripture

Parker reading from the Smith's history

The view from the log home to the Sacred Grove

The view of the Palmyra temple from the Smith's log home

The Sacred Grove

The Smiths’ oldest son, Alvin, planned the construction of this handsome New England-style farmhouse to provide for his future family and to care for his parents in their elderly years. Having apprenticed as a builder, he managed the initial construction himself. By the fall of 1823 the heavy timber frame had been raised. That November Alvin died suddenly, and construction sat idle for months. The Smiths finally moved into the home in late 1825, even though much of the finishing work remained to be done. (hillcumorah.org)

Under the bricks of this hearth of this fireplace in the Smith's frame house is one of the places where Joseph hid the gold plates from the mob

View of the Sacred Grove

The Sacred 

I love the Sacred Grove. It is a wonderful, peaceful and sacred place.

In the spring of 1820, Joseph Smith, Jr. entered this remnant of an ancient forest to kneel in prayer. The vision he beheld of God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, initiated the restoration to the earth of the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Nine years later, in late June of 1829, Joseph Smith Jr. gathered a small group of his family and friends to a secluded spot in these woods and showed them the gold plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated. He allowed each of the eight participants to hold the ancient record, turn its pages and examine its characters. They prepared a written testimony, which was published in the Book of Mormon. (hillcumorah.org)

I love these pictures of Parker with Ronan and Brinley

James and Ronan

In the early 1800's Palmyra, New York was bursting with the promise of growth and prosperity. In 1828 it added a new three story building to its bustling business district. That structure was known as Thayer and Grandin's Row. It was not the excellence of its construction or its striking facade that would give it a place in history but rather, it was the fact that two young men, Joseph Smith Jr., the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Egbert B. Grandin, an aspiring young publisher, signed a contract to publish a book, entitled the Book of Mormon. The year of their agreement was 1829. Through the ensuing years many alterations were made to the building. Now, that part of the building owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been restored to the way it was in the late 1820's.

On March 26, 1998, the anniversary of the first printing of the Book of Mormon in 1830, the restored part of the building was dedicated. Visitors are invited to come to this Historic Site, see the building, the printing presses and observe the printing sequence in the room where the printing of the Book of Mormon actually took place. The visitor will also be able to walk through the bindery and into the store where the Book of Mormon was first sold. Of course, there is much more. (hillcumorah.org)

Peter Whitmer farm-Fayette, New York

On April 6, 1830, in a small log home belonging to Peter Whitmer Sr., the Prophet Joseph Smith Jr. and five other men formally organized The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The first and second general conferences of the Church were also held here. It was in this home that Joseph Smith Jr. and Oliver Cowdery completed the translation of the Book of Mormon.

In the nearby woods an angel showed the gold plates to Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris and David Whitmer, in the company of the Prophet Joseph Smith. These were the same plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated.

The Log Home was reconstructed in 1980 and is an example of the type of log homes built when the Whitmers moved to Fayette, New York between 1807 and 1809. The Log Home is furnished with household artifacts of that same period.