palmyra

We visited Palmyra on Sunday, so we started the day by going to church. After a lovely microwaved lasagna meal at the motel, we headed out to the sites. First stop was the Martin Harris home. It is privately owned and not available for tours, but the owners don't mind people coming by for a look. A look at the fields that would have been part of Martin Harris' farm.

Next we went to the B of M publishing site. It is a building that is attached to other buildings on either side in the center of the block in the "downtown" area of Palmyra. By the outside looks, I thought this would be a 10 minutes stop. Oh how wrong I was! An hour or so later we finished the tour and I came out with a deeper appreciation of the B of M. God wanted the B of M to come forth and He prepared the way and the people to accomplish His purposes. We are greatly blessed to have this book of scripture.

A look inside the print shop. These tables contain letters used on the printing press. Each letter had to be picked out by hand and set into the printer. The uppercase letters are stored in the upper cases and the lower case letters are stored in the lower cases!

The new Smith press (this is a replica) that prints 16 pages at a time, double that of the old press. E.B. Grandin was only 23 years old, and had just purchased this press when asked to print the B of M. He stayed in the printing business for 5 years and then decided to move on to another business venture. He never joined the church.

Examples of printed pages hanging from the ceiling.

This is the Joseph Smith log home. Joseph Sr., Lucy and their 9 children lived here. The home has been rebuilt on its orginal foundation. This home is where J.S. would have been studying the Bible and read James 1:5, which led him to pray in the grove of trees nearby.

The upstairs rooms are where the children slept. Jacob decided that this bed would have been the one where Joseph was sleeping when Moroni visited him several times one night and told him about the gold plates.

A look at some of the beautiful flowers and foilage around the home, thanks to Sarah. I should have let her use my camera more!

This is the Smith family frame home. It sits about 200 yards away from the log home, which puts it into a completely different county! The Smith family lived here for only about 4 years. 85% of this home is original.

This is the fireplace where the floor bricks were removed once to hide the gold plates.

This is a replica of the wooden box that was used to hold the gold plates.

This is the "Alvin Tree". Alvin Smith was the one who began building the frame home for his parents before he died. He asked Hyrum to make sure that the home was completed. The family planted this tree in Alvin's honor.

This is a look at the Cooper's shop, the place where they made barrels. The plates were hidden in the loft here once. The mob ransacked the shop, but never found the plates.

The sacred grove is located a few yards away from the home. It is a gorgeous, peaceful place. There are several trails to wander and benches every so often so you can sit and ponder. The trees are so dense that it is easy to see why J.S. would come here to be alone and to pray. This was one of our favorite places.

To end the day, we stopped at the Hill Cumorah. A person could spend a lot of time in the visitors center, but we took the short version, since the kids were getting tired and restless. Pretty good group shot, except for Zach squeezing his eyes shut. Even Ryan was coerced into participating in the picture!

One of the displays in the visitors center is this table that holds a copy of the B of M in every language in which it has been printed to date, including a braille copy. Amazing.

A look up at the Hill Cumorah. This is where the pageant will take place in a couple weeks.

Here we are at the top. And behind us is the beautiful countryside.

A look down the hill.

The angel Moroni statue at the top of the hill.

Mark standing by a statue outside the visitors center. The words on the statue give a brief history of the B of M, and also quote Moroni's promise (Moroni 10:4) to all who read the B of M that they will know by the power of the Holy Ghost that the book is true. It IS true!

whitmer farm and seneca lake

(OK, so, I just wrote the whole post and accidentally deleted this photo from the end. I don't know how to post it at the end, so here it is at the beginning. Enjoy!)

When we left Niagara Falls, we headed down to Fayette, NY to visit the Peter Whitmer Farm. This was where the church was officially organized. The translation of the Book of Mormon was also completed here. Many members of the Whitmer family actually saw the gold plates from which J.S. translated the B of M. -- David was one of the 3 witnesses, and 5 other members of the family were part of the 8 witnesses. Also, Mary Whitmer was shown the plates. Obviously, this was another "church headquarters" for a period of time -- three conferences were held here.

The home has been rebuilt on it original foundation.

I just love the beautiful countryside surrounding the farm. So green and peaceful.

After our tour and picnic lunch, we headed up to Seneca Lake, one of the finger lakes. I was expecting a sort of Bear Lake type lake -- not even close. The beach sand was hard and the water was full of green junk, no way we're playing in that! Fortunately, they had a fabulous splash park here. Jacob, Sarah, and Zach had a great time! In fact, Zach didn't want to leave (he could have literally spent the entire day here if allowed!) And I'm such a poor photographer that I don't even have picture proof of how much Zach enjoyed it. Maybe Alicia will post some picts of him.

Jacob & Sarah.

oh, can-a-da!

On our way from the Johnson Farm to Canada, we drove through some lovely Amish country. Unfortunately, I took very few pictures. Here's my one and only of a horse drawn buggy in action -- look close. We stopped at an Amish swiss cheese factory for about 5 minutes. They had delicious baby swiss cheese samples and this buggy specifically poised for photo taking. Jacob was the only one "brave" enough to try it out!

Next stop -- Canada!! This was my first time going outside of the U.S.

We got our first look at Niagara Falls. This is Horseshoe Falls.

Here's a look at the American Falls.

Pretty impressive falls! We parked at the hotel and met up with Dave, Alicia, Sarah, and Zach. We haven't seen them since last summer, but Jacob & Sarah took off playing together like they were best buddies. Zach doesn't seem to have a shy bone in his body and we were all friends in no time! It was so good to see all of them. Since it was dinner time, we headed down Clifton Hill and came across the Rainforest Cafe. We decided to eat dinner there amongst these creatures:

The next day we were off to explore. We rode the Maid of the Mist first thing in the morning. They give everyone these lovely blue slickers to wear -- they are definitely needed unless you want to get VERY wet. The boat took us right up to the falls.

We went on Journey behind the Falls and got this view of the horseshoe falls.

We went on a fun ride called Niagara's Fury, which is inside a building, but you still get slickers and you still get wet. It's kind of like the Soarin over California ride at Disneyland. We really had a great time on that ride, but poor Zach curled up into a little ball -- too scary. Our last adventure was the White Water Walk. The boys were getting a bit tired and decided to take a break on the rocks -- next to the "stay off rocks" sign, of course!!

Gotta love this sign on the video game at the hotel. Yes, we really are in Canada. Do "Loonies" refer to the people who play the game or the coins that go into it???? ;)

After dinner we walked down to the falls again. The falls are all lit up with colored lights (that change colors) and make quite a spectacular site.

On weekends, there is also a fireworks show. A good display and probably the only one I've seen where "I'm Proud to be an American" isn't blasting in the background!

We had a great time here, but we were also glad to get back to the good old USA.

johnson farm

About 45 minutes outside of Kirtland, is a little place called Hiram. This is where the Johnson farm is located. I'd say that this farm was definitely one of our favorites and most memorable. John and Elsa Johnson were very prominent and wealthy citizens in the community. Elsa's had rheumatiod arthritis in her arm which left it almost completely useless. She was healed by J.S. through the power of the priesthood. John and Elsa invited J.S. and Emma to live with them for a time and many memorable things took place here during that time. Eventually the Johnsons concecrated their entire farm to the church. A look at the house.

The gorgeous farmland surrounding it.

Us on the doorstep where J.S. gave a sermon after being tarred and feathered.

This is the room where section 76 was received (and many other revelations too). This was the headquarters of the church for a period of time. Again, not quite the size of the church office building!

Our tour guides were Elder & Sister Dalton. We don't know them, but they were absolutely fabulous guides. We happened to be the only ones on the farm during our time there, so we got their full attention! The boys all got to try on this yoke. It was used to carry water to the house from a nearby stream.

Attaching a couple of wooden buckets to this yoke would sure make it heavy! This would have been one of the jobs for the kids too!

The woodwork in the house is all the original stuff, and it is amazing. Look at the design in the wood door!

Again, check out the wood mantel around the original fireplace.

This picture shows the colorful wood floor in its orginal condition, i.e. before polishing it up.

Now, check out the floor design in its polished up state! It seems Elsa Johnson could have been the Martha Stewart of her time!

This room (above) is where J.S., Emma, and their twins were sleeping the night that the prophet was dragged from his bed, tarred, and feathered by a mob of about 50 men. We learned that they tried to force poison down his throat, but the tar covered his mouth and nose and prevented him from being poisoned. As we know, they chipped a front tooth in the process of trying to force the poison. I am so glad we were able to visit this farm!