first stop, the beautiful palmyra temple. it is built on the original 100-acre smith family farm. that is incredible to me-- a temple right on the property where the restoration began. there is a window in the temple, immediately in front of you when you enter, that looks directly out onto the sacred grove. i would have taken a picture from inside, but you know the rules.
next, we toured the actual farm. there is a re-creation of the log cabin the smiths lived in, and an 85% original frame home they lived in later. that house has the original fireplace where joseph hid the gold plates from a mob. there is also the remains of an old log and stone fence at the back of the property, which the smiths would have constructed. and its still there. i think that's cool.
right behind these houses is the sacred grove. i had imagined it would be quite small, just a little grove of trees. but it's actually pretty big, big enough to spend some time walking around the nice paths. todd quoted lines from the joseph smith history and i hummed "joseph smith's first prayer" to myself.
i heard someone say that president hinckley considered the sacred grove to be the second most sacred spot on earth, next to the holy land. that may be total hearsay, but it's definitely a very special place. it is so beautiful and peaceful, i completely understand why joseph would have gone there to think and pray.
we also toured the printing company in downtown palmyra where the book of mormon was first printed. the coolest thing about downtown palmyra was actually an intersection where there are four beautiful, old churches on the four corners. according to wikipedia, there are only 10 other places in the world with four churches on four corners.
we also visited the martin harris home, the hill cumorah, and the whitmer farm, where the church was officially organized.
you bet todd looked around for a large stone on the northwest side.
2 comments:
Wow. Look at all the trees!!
I LOVE those sites! I visited them in '07 and I completely agree that there is definitely a very special spirit that is there! And that shot you got with the sun cutting through the tree in the grove? So great! love it!
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