Hill Cumorah, Sacred Grove, Palmyra, Whitmer Farm- What A Day

 Full on touring began today and what a day. It was better than I could have imagined. Interesting being on a bus with 50 people, some a bit more senior than me, so it took a bit of time to get everyone on and off the bus each time. Our guide Hank Smith is just awesome, he talks non stop, but he is teaching us the whole time, sharing information and his knowledge. He is a professor at BYU Provo, and told us he has a superpower of being able to stand up on the bus, face down the bus and talk! It was like being in a uni class on wheels.

Our bus for the day, with our driver Tami- who was an awesome driver and looked after us, and puts up with Hank and his changes to the program!

The Hill Cumorah Monument- we walked up to the memorial and then down the back way through the forest, it was a pretty spot.

Then we headed out to the Joseph Smith Farm. This was a replica of the first cabin they built, on the same spot.

This is the upstairs room where all the boys in the family would have slept

The farm, I loved the fences that they built out of split logs to keep the  cows in.

You could see the Palmyra temple through the trees, it overlooked the  Sacred Grove.

This was the house that Alvin Smith built for his parents, he died before he was able to finish it off. It is 85% original. It was a lovely house. Senior missionaries took us through and told the history of the family.

They had great walk in pantries and cellars

 Loved the drying rack near the fireplace

This is the hearth where Joseph at one time pulled up the bricks, dug a hole and place a box containing the gold plates to hide them from the intruders that would randomly come into the home trying to see or steal the plates.

Smith Family Farm

Walking up to The Sacred Grove with Hank Smith 

Going into The Sacred Grove- it was a special place, you could feel the spirit, it felt such a blessing to actually be in this place, a place I have so often read and learnt about.

We sat on the benches in the Sacred Grove, where Hank Smith taught us for a bit, then we had a chance to wander off on our own. We call it the Sacred Grove, but it was Joseph Smith's back yard.

Some of the trees were referred to as "Witness Trees" they would have been here when Joseph Smith prayed and saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

It was nice to have the time to sit and wander and mediate on where we were and what took place here.

We then headed into Palmyra where we wandered off to look for some lunch, then met back at the Grandin Printshop where the Book of Mormon was first printed.

I found it fascinating to see the process of printing in those day.

The white books were paperbacks, they were the cheapest to produce. You could then pay to have it hard bound.

This is a replica of the printing press, we saw the original at the Church History Museum in SLC

These were the original floorboards- so we would have been standing on the same floorboards that Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris and many others would have walked on.

Then we headed to Fayette and the Whitmer Farm. This is a replica of the Whitmer Family home, where Joseph finished off translating the Book of Mormon, where he, Emma and Oliver Cowdrey stayed with the Whitmers and where the Church of Jesus Christ was organised on April 6 1830.

Inside the Whitmer home

Looking out onto the field that may have been the one that was miraculously ploughed.

 

On the grounds of the Whitmer Farm is a chapel and a Ward meets there on Sunday, we went to church here the next day- pretty neat!

We certainly saw a lot today, just Day 1 and it was great. We had dinner back at the hotel and got to know some of the women on our table, all traveling alone or with friends, they were a great group.