kirtland -- whitney home, sawmill & ashery

We recently returned from a fabulous vacation to Kirtland, Niagara Falls, and Palmyra. So, guess what the next few posts will be about?! I'll be posting in little segments as my time allows. Our first stop was the Newel K. and Elizabeth Ann Whitney home. Inside it pretty much looks like any other "pioneer" era home, so I'm not going to post any picts of the inside. I learned a lot about this family during our visit here. They were faithful and amazing people. I can see why one of the dorms at BYU is named after Elizabeth Ann Whitney -- I wish I would have known more about her when I lived in that dorm so many years ago. This is the sawmill. The water wheel is what powered the huge saw. Pretty cool place.

In one part of the mill, they have these -- the "raw" makings of the pulpits that are inside the Kirtland temple. Cool. I didn't realize that they are rather small, because in pictures and films they always seem large. You can barely see in the picture, but they're only as tall as Ryan's

chest and stomach area. A look at the saw.

Next stop was the ashery. Oh this place was fun. We learned all about how potash is made. It was a very lucrative business to say the least.

The giant kettle of potash.

Jacob staring into one of the huge brick ovens where the more pure "white" potash was made.