Harmony, PA church history site
Many events took place in Harmony. Joseph and Emma moved here in December 1827 to escape persecution, and Joseph began translating the plates. Emma was a scribe to Joseph at Harmony, as was Martin Harris for a time, and then Oliver Cowdery came in April 1829 and helped Joseph finish the translation. One of the most common known events that took place here was the restoration of the priesthood of God on the banks of the Susquehanna River. We were lucky that we could access this church history site when we did because the Church is getting ready to start construction here, which means it will soon be off limits.
This is where Joseph's and Emma's home was. You can see a wood stake just off to the left. There were several of these stakes located throughout the site as the construction is about ready to start.
Restoration of the priesthood monument.
The trail heading to the banks of the Susquehanna River was so pretty.
On the banks of the River.
After visiting Harmony, we then drove up to Palmyra (about 2.5 hours away). Our first stop was the Smith family farm and the Sacred Grove.
Smith Family Farm
There are two homes on the farm. The first home is the family log home. This was the house that Joseph's family lived in at the time of the First Vision. It was also in the house where the angel Moroni appeared to Joseph multiple times that evening in the upstairs bedroom, just three years after the First Vision.
The Frame Home
The second home on the Smith family property is the Frame Home. The family moved into this home late in 1825. It was Alvin Smith (Joseph's older brother) who started construction on the house in 1822. Unfortunately, Alvin died in 1823 and was unable to complete constructing the house, so his family finished the home and later moved into it. It is significantly larger than the log home.
One of my favorite things about this property is when you are walking down the lane/trail to the frame home, you can see the Palmyra temple through some of the trees. Gorgeous!
Sacred Grove
After touring the Smith homes, we then walked into the Sacred Grove. This is one of my favorite spots on earth. The best way to describe it is by it's name: it's sacred, and it is a beautiful grove.
The Grandin Building
After the Sacred Grove, we then went to the Book of Mormon publication site, also known as the Grandin Building.
This is where the Book of Mormon was first printed, and the man who owned the printed shop was a man named Egbert B. Grandin. Printing the Book of Mormon was no small job. First of all, Martin Harris mortgaged part of his farm to guarantee $3,000 of printing cost (that was a lot of money for 1830). With that $3,000 Egbert then took on the task of printing 5,000 copies. This type of printing job was a really big deal for a small town. Something this big didn't even really happen in New York City. Again, this was no small job in 1830.
There are a few originals still in this building: one is the wood floor photographed below. The second original is the brick, but it's only from the second level and up.
Hill Cumorah
After the publication site, we headed over to the Hill Cumorah. It was here that the plates were buried. The plates were translated by Joseph Smith, and the product of that translation is the Book of Mormon.
There was still a little bit of daylight left so we headed over to the temple to take some pictures. It's such a pretty temple, and there was so much detail President Hinckley put into planning it.
After temple pictures, we headed over to Olive Garden for a late dinner, and then headed to the hotel. Upon arriving at the hotel, we go a fun and pleasant surprise: it turns out I was the guest of the day.
My Mom and I had the giggles for a while when we got to the hotel and saw the sign. She and I were so tired that I think our exhaustion made us silly. I was also still sick so I imagine my medicine made me a littly goofy too. But after some time, we caved into our exhaustion and went to bed.
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