Palmyra

I found a fantastic rate for a hotel in Niagara on the Canadian side. We thought it would be a great graduation celebration for the family. So, we headed out on a Wednesday. It was about a 5 hour drive to get from Detroit to Niagara. We stayed the night in Niagara the first night and in the morning, loaded up and headed to Palmyra (about a two hour drive). On the way we stopped in Rochester, NY to visit my college friend Jen Bigler Richards and her husband Bryson and their three boys. It was so great to catch up!

We got to Palmyra in the early afternoon. The weather was amazing and it was such a neat experience to see these sites where so many amazing church history experiences took place. It was calm and serene, a perfect location for Joseph Smith to prayer to God. Douglas and I really enjoyed touring the different sites and felt the spirit testify to us that Joseph Smith is indeed a prophet of God. It was a really cool experience.

This is the log cabin where Joseph lived when he had the first vision. It is down the road from the frame house they lived in for a short time before they lost it for financial reasons and had to move back to the log house again.


This is the main room of the log house. There was a small "master bedroom" off of this room.

This is where they would have cooked.

This is the door they think Joseph most likely would have gone out when heading to the woods to pray.

Here Jackson is reading the Bible verse, in James, that inspired Joseph to pray to God and ask which church to join.

Jackson

Paige

This is the upstairs. This main room is where the 6?? (can't remember) boys would have slept...one twin bed and a double. Yikes! I can't imagine sleeping with so many and I am sure it would get SO hot up there!! The little room behind is where the two girls would sleep. Amazingly enough, this is also the room in which the Angel Moroni appeared to Joseph year after year...and all his siblings slept through it!



As you walk from the log house to the frame house, you can see the Palmyra temple in the background. I bet Joseph never imagined that!



This is the barn next to the frame house where Joseph hid the plates one time.













This is inside the frame house. This is where they lived when Martin Harris came back to tell Joseph that he lost the plates. He paced in front of the house for a long time and sat on the fence until Hyrum came out to see what was going on. As soon as he entered the house Joseph knew that the manuscript was lost. He never blamed Martin, only himself.

This is the front of the frame house where Martin paced. The house had been altered when other families lived in it and then restored to the original house when the church bought it back.

Sacred Grove



She insisted on a "silly picture"!



Palmyra temple

This is the visitor center by the sacred Grove.

The Hill Cumorah where the plates were hidden. It was quite a hike to get to the top!

The Granger (I think that is the name) printing house where Joseph had the first 5000 Books of Mormon's printed. This was a really cool tour! So interesting.






And that, is Palmyra in a day. Such a great experience. I am so glad we made it happen before we left Ann Arbor!