Visiting Palmyra

The youth temple trip was yesterday, and when we realized that the kids were out of school and Matt had the day off we decided to drive up a day early to visit all the church history sites in Palmyra. (We are in the Palmyra temple district.)

We started out at the Smith Farm. I don't know why I didn't take a picture of the outside of the Log Home, but this is us inside. The building is not original, but they did find the original foundation so the Log Home is on the actual spot where the original Log Home would have been.

 There was a little bit of a walk between the Log Home and the Frame House, and this road used to be the actual county road that used to run between the,. However, the church rerouted the main road and put this path here instead.

About half way between the homes if you look off to the left is the Palmyra temple. The temple has an overlook where they actually cut back the trees somewhat so you can see the Sacred Grove from the temple.

Here is the Frame House. the property it had been maintained really well and so this structure is 85% original. When the Church acquired It was quite a bit larger than the Log Home and had more conveniences. It even had a stone sink. In a lot of ways it was Lucy's dream home, even though they only lived in it for three years. 

Here's what she said about the home when they had to leave it.

Joseph Smith hid the Golden Plates various places around the home.Under these bricks were Seth is standing was a hollowed out place where they hid for some time.

Then we turned and walked in to the Sacred Grove. It was one of the most peaceful places I have ever been in my life. If it had not been so cold we might have stayed much longer. Even so, it was beautiful. I would love to go back in the summer or fall when the trees have their leaves back. I am sure it will be spectacular.

As you are leaving the Sacred Grove you can see the back of the Log Home.

Then we went to the Hill Cumorah. They have a beautiful Visitor's Center and you can drive up to the top to see the Angel Moroni monument. I was surprised to see just how very steep the hill is.

The next morning we went to the temple so that Aaron and Matt could help with the temple baptisms. The rest of us had fun around town. We went back to the top of the Hill Cumorah briefly (it was Caleb's favorite spot), and then we found a park to play at for a while. Then we went back to the temple grounds to wait for them to be done. Luckily the weather was a little bit warmer than it was the day before.

The Temple Grounds...

The farthest trees off in the distance are part of the Sacred Grove. (not the ones closest to us.)

A couple of other interesting places in this region are the Erie Canal and High Falls in Rochester.