Day 2

Day 2

We headed to Palmyra, NY. This is the place where so much in our Church's History took place. Growing up in the Church, I read of places like Joseph Smith's childhood home, the Sacred Grove, the Grandin Print Shop, the Peter Whitmer Farm, etc. all my life. I knew these places existed, but to a California girl, Palmyra, NY seemed so far away!

We started at Joseph Smith's childhood home (above picture).

Here is a depiction of what the family's table would have looked like. There on the table is a Bible printed around the time of Joseph's life. Here the family would gather and read from the Bible each night. The Bible is coincidentally opened to a specific chapter and verse...any guesses? James 1:5

The Palmyra Temple is seen from Stafford Road.

This is the Smith "framed" Home. The family would have moved into this home later in Joseph's life. The home is beautifully restored with most of it being left original. The tree behind Clarke and I is a tree thought to have been planted in Alvin's honor after his death.

The Sacred Grove. AHHHHHHH! We were the only ones there that day. It was BEAUTIFUL!!!!! Words cannot describe how green and beautiful it was. What happened there changed the world! Powerful!

We then headed to Grandin's Print Shop. AWESOME!

The Church has actually bought all the land around the original shop and built the Visitor's Center around the actual building. Here we are in the back of the building. Again, private tour!

This is where the original 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon were printed. The ink spatter, yellow trim, wood floors, etc are all original. It was incredible to learn about how much work it was to make a book back then...let alone 5,000 of the same book

This is one of the original copies of the Book of Mormon. I saw on an Antique's Roadshow once that this is worth approximately $300,000 (there are 4 of them in Palmyra...I think)

Downstairs in Grandin's Print Shop

We also drove past the Martin Harris Farm. It is an old house now where missionary couples live. There are acres and acres of corn

This is the Peter Whitmer Farm. On April 6, 1830, the Church was organized here. It was headquarters to the Church for a little while as well. It is not that big, but definately room for the 30-40 people who were in attendance that day. Awesome!
All in all, it was an AMAZING day!

We are soooooo happy we experienced it. Being there totally strengthened by testimony!