Day 5 (Sunday, July 12, 2009): Day 5 and we're still going strong! What an amazing place Palmyra, NY is! I've read about these church history places many times but it's a whole different experience being here and seeing these special places with your own eyes! This just reconfirms everything I know to be true. To be standing in holy and hallowed places is a surreal and awesome experience. Our first stop was the historical landmark of Joseph Smith's Farm. Here is a picture of us in front of the log home that the Smiths lived in for a number of years.
The log home was a very tiny home with barely enough space for me to stand upright. It was hard to believe that a family consisting of 2 parents and 7 kids lived in this home all at the same time!!!
We learned that the Smith's oldest son, Alvin, designed and built the majority of the frame home just down the road a way. He died, due to Dr's error--he gave him some medicine that clogged up his intestines and killed him in about 2 days--before the completion of the home and so they hired out the last of the work to a man who decided he wanted the home for himself. He lied about the Smiths and bought the home right out from under them 1 week before their last payment of $100 was to be paid. A good friend of the Smiths bought the home back for them and allowed them to "rent" the home for about 18 months. Then the man's daughter was getting married and needed the home so the Smiths moved BACK into their tiny log home--rough deal all the way around but the Smiths were amazing people to be able to deal with the situation. Here is a picture of the frame home.
Views of the inside of the frame home:
Kitchen with original brick
"Dry Sink"
Fireplace in living room in which Joseph hid the plates for a time
Potty Chair--picture taken by Carlie--the kids got a kick out of this!!!
Next we visited the "Sacred Grove." What a most beautiful place. This whole area of upstate New York is absolutely breath-taking with its lush greenery! The Sacred Grove has several walking paths to take. I could have spent all day there--or at least a couple of hours. With kids, we walked through it and tried to take in as much as we could. Here are some pics of us in the Sacred Grove:
And the BEAUTIFUL Palmyra Temple!!! The flowers here were most exquisite! You just don't see flowers like these in Arizona! And green, green, green all around! Amazing views everywhere you look. Here are some pics!!!
View of the Temple from the Sacred Grove
Next we hit the book bindery where the first Book of Mormons were printed in the town of Palmyra. It was a major undertaking to undertake such a project back in the day! It took roughly 6 months to print and produce 5,000 copies of the book. Here are some pictures of the actual printing press where this took place:
And to top the whole day off (figuratively AND literally) we went to the Hill Cumorah! It was such a beautiful day to take this little hike. The weather was absolutely perfect--we were told that the pageant had been rained out the night before. It was quite a steep climb--no easy feat. The kids ran right up the hill with little difficulty....Chris and I made it up almost completely out of breath! But the view was totally worth the effort! What an amazing place to be standing knowing everything that happened there! My appreciation for Joseph Smith grew by leaps and bounds today learning all that I did. Here are some pics of us at the top of the Hill Cumorah:
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