Day 7 - Palmyra - History comes to life!

We spent the night last night in Palmyra so we got a pretty good start today.  This was the start of our Church History Touring.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints had it's beginnings in Palmyra, New York.  We have wanted to see these historic sites for a very long time....and finally, we are doing it.

Note:  I took tons of pictures so I am not going to show everything but just a sampling of what we saw.  I hope that it will encourage others to come to Palmyra and check out these sites for themselves.  It was awesome.  Each location had guided tours.  Everything is free to visit.  Even if you are not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, you can't help but enjoy the history of the Church and the surrounding area.

Our tour began with a trip to the Hill Cumorah.  Today started out raining and throughout the day were spurts of rain storms but luckily, each time we were to be outside, the rain stopped.  How lucky we were.  So we begin at the top of Hill Cumorah.  It was so beautiful.  The vegetation was this luscious green.  My first thought when I saw the Hill was "How do they mow this?"  And that was one of my first questions I asked at the visitor's center. Apparently they use the stand up mowers and go cross ways...not up and down!  Here are a few of the pictures I took at the Hill.  My camera is not the greatest and also I am not the greatest photographer.  It was a dreary day so the colors were not so vibrant in the picture but I can't begin to tell you how beautiful it truly was at each location.  The Hill was quite steep.  Every July they put on this huge pageant and this hill and surrounding area is full of people.  It is an event that is unbelievable I have heard.  Personally, I am glad we came at this time of year.  There were no crowds and it was so peaceful everywhere we went.

You can take a walking trail up to the top of the Hill or do as we did and drive.  At the top is a monument of Moroni and the information about the Church.  It is so beautiful up there.  You can see all over the valley.  The grounds are extremely beautifully manicured.

At the Hill Cumorah is a Visitor's Center.  One awesome thing in the center at this time (but soon to travel to another location) was a special exhibit of pictures taken (and it is late tonight and my brain is fried from the day so I can't remember) in outer space by the space probe.  They were so beautiful but one of my favorites was this one.  It was said that this pictures contained thousands of galaxies.  The whole exhibit was awesome.

From the Hill Cumorah we next went to the farm of Joseph Smith and his family.  Also there was the Sacred Grove where Joseph Smith received an answer to a prayer.  The log home was actually a replica of the original log home but the location was the same and the surroundings were the same.  The frame house was 80% original.  The barn was a replica but the shed where they made barrels was the original.  I was extremely fascinated with how much room was actually inside this little log home.  It was tiny from the outside but they made it hold a large family inside.  And we complain if we don't have 2000 sq. feet!

Here is the log house.  We got to go inside and upstairs where Joseph received a vision about the Book of Mormon.

This is the frame house that Joseph's brother was building before he died.  The family only got to live in it for about 3 years.  Most of their time in Palmyra was spent in the tiny log cabin.  We got to see the downstairs but because this home, even though it is only about 100 yards from the log cabin, is in a different county and county regulations restricted us from being allowed to go upstairs.

Here is the kitchen.  Much larger than the log cabin.

This is the toolbox where Joseph hid the plates after he had brought them down from Hill Cumorah.  He later moved them to a hiding spot beneath the hearth in the sitting room.

The barn is actually a replica but the wood was from the Brigham Young barn.

This last shed is where Joseph and his family made barrels.  Take a close look at the binding on the barrels.  Instead of metal, twigs were used.  He and his family made money selling these barrels.

Also on the Smith farm was the sacred grove.  I found it difficult to take a very good picture of the grove.  As I said, the weather was quite dreary and it is spring.  The leaves on the trees have not yet leafed out making it look very sparse.  The trees in this area are not very big around which surprised me (mostly because I am from an area where our trees are huge).

It is getting really late and I am so tired so I will have to continue this tour tomorrow.  Today we also visited the printing press, the home of Martin Harris, and the Peter Whitmer Farm.

TO BE CONTINUED...