Palmyra, New York

As you can tell, it wasn't a very warm welcome into New York. We could hardly see anything because of the rain.

We got into Palmyra at about dusk so the only thing to see that night was the Hill Cumorah. I'm glad we did because the sunset was beautiful. 

Joseph Smith saw the Hill Cumorah in a vision and he said he knew exactly where it was in real life. Well, it wouldn't be too difficult because this hill really is the only hill around Palmyra. It's a huge hill too which would make it difficult to carry the gold plates down, especially with people chasing you. Here is the monument on the Hill Cumorah. On the sides is the story of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.

The next day was Sunday, so we went to church then saw the sites. Church was 9-12 and the sites opened at 12:30 so the sister missionaries could show us around. We saw the Smith family log home and frame home. This is the log home with the sacred grove behind it. When Joseph Smith said his family moved to the next township I figured that meant the next neighborhood, but it was just a few hundred feet away. The log home was on the border of one township and the Smith family moved right over the line.  The second picture is where Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith. All of his brothers were sleeping with him in this little room while he was talking with Moroni. They must have been deep sleepers. 

This was the Smith family frame house. 

 We drove down to Fayette to visit the Peter Whitmer farm. There is a nice visitor's center there with a really cool chapel that rebuilt in 1980. It looks like something that was built around the 1830's. We saw a couple at the visitor's center that we recognized from Kirtland. Ja remembered the guys BYU sweatshirt.

 January 2, 1831 is when the Church had a conference in the Whitmer home. This is when Joseph Smith tells the Saints to move to Ohio, and he received the revelation for Doctrine & Covenants section 38. 

This house was rebuilt on the land that Martin Harris' farm was. I don't think you can tell in the picture, but the whole house is faced with river rock. Each rock is placed perfectly to make rows. It looks really cool. There are a many houses like this in the Palmyra area.

 Of course we had to visit the first Book of Mormon publication site. The building is in the middle of other businesses so it took me by surprise when I walked in because it looks like all the other visitors center's. E.B. Grandin was the man who published the Book of Mormon. It took two years to print and bind all 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon. That was a huge order of books back then so E.B. Grandin was afraid to go ahead with project because he didn't think we would get payment for it. This is why Martin Harris sold 151 acres of his farm to pay for the Book of Mormon. These pictures of of the front of the building and the printing press room.

                           

The next day we went to the Palmyra Temple. It's a great little temple with stained glass windows of the Sacred Grove all around inside. The workers there are all very proud of the temple and told us a lot of stories about it being built.