Our day started by going to the the visitors' center at the Peter Whitmer Farm in Fayette, New York. I didn't realize that it was in that area that the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon received their witness from the Angel Moroni. In Lucy Mack Smith's book,
History of Joseph Smith by his Mother, Lucy refers to the area as Waterloo. There are several small towns in the area of which Waterloo is the largest. Waterloo is still the largest town and we had lunch at the mall there.
This is an amazing statue that I have seen before at Deseret Book. All of the figures except the kneeling one are suspended in air by a single point on the cloak of the angel.
This is a carefully reconstructed cabin on the site of the original Peter Whitmer home (where the Church was formally organized with six members in 1830).
This kitchen was the scene of the dual broadcast of General Conference in 1980 from Salt Lake City and Fayette with Pres. Kimball to mark the 150th Anniversary of the founding of the Church.
This clock is a period piece which continues to keep time and was made by hand around 1830.
Karen and Richard in the Whitmer home.
The Church owns much of the land surrounding church sites but leases it out for farming. The purpose is to keep a buffer to preserve the character of the site. Sometimes there are signs to not eat the produce because it belongs to the farmers.
This is the back of the Grandin Printing shop. It is a miracle that a young printer about the age of Joseph Smith undertook to print 5000 copies of the Book of Mormon. How he got the supplies and completed it in such a short time is another of the great miracles of the Restoration. I cherish the booklet
Miracle on Palmyra's Main Street by Gordon L. Weight, an old time printer.
View from Main Street.
We walked down to Alvin Smith's grave. The original site has probably been destroyed by time but this marker was placed in recent times by the Smith Family. To get there we passed the intersection with a different church on each corner.
The Erie Canal
This is a reconstructed home on the site of Martin Harris' home. His land was eventually sold to pay for the printing of the Book of Mormon and is one of the reasons his wife left him. Currently missionaries live in the house. It is a splendid example of egg rock construction. Similar-sized rocks were worked into a design in the exterior of the home. .
Karen and Kathryn Ann.
In the afternoon there was a bad thunderstorm and we were concerned that that we wouldn't be able to see the Hill Cumorah Pageant because of the rain. The weather cleared up and it was perfect weather for the pageant on Thursday night. However, the rains continued in the area and the Friday night performance of the pageant was cancelled because of the danger of lightning to the participants. There was also severe flooding in the area including in Kirtland.
This cute young man is having a mock battle with John to demonstrate the props.
One of the special things at the Pageant was a tent which told its history with posters and videos. As we read the history it was like reading "who's who" in the Church. The Pageant began in 1937 with Harold I. Hansen as Artistic director. After WW II Roy Doxey revived it with Harvey Fletcher designing the sound, Crawford Gates composing the music, and the Tabernacle Choir recording the music. In 1987, Charles Metten was called as Artistic Director. The 2013 performance was the 76th Anniversary of the pageant.
The costumes were amazing. Some people are hours in make-up. Now many families spend their vacations at pageant. They are divided according to age and scenes where they work as "families." The entire town provides food for those who attend the pageant and it is the area's major fund raiser.
The actors moved freely among the audience before the performance to allow for pictures and to tell about the church.
These men represented the kings that visited Joseph and Mary when Christ was born. The following day, the brother in the middle was in our temple session in the Palmyra Temple.
This is the introductory scene. The angels with triumphant trumpeting announce the pageant and the actors enter the scene with flags. I loved the pageant. I felt and understood in new ways the truth of the gospel teachings. The special effects were truly amazing from the storm for Nephi's ship to the volcanoes erupting at Jesus' death. They also used water in amazing ways.
View of the site from the top of Hill Cumorah. The chair seats have holes drilled in them so the water will drain off. Many people bring their own chairs and blankets. There is an extensive area for handicapped parking.
New this years was the hydrolic lift to show the crucifixion.
Karen and Richard on top of the Hill Cumorah.
The Angel Moroni Statue was placed on the Hill Cumorah in 1935.
This is a recreation of the log house in which Joseph and his family lived in Palmyra.
In the upstairs while his siblings slept, Joseph received his visits from Moroni.
A pathway from the back of the log house to the Grove. The Grove has now been listed as a protected area by state officials.
The gardens and flowers are kept in pristine condition at all of the church history sites. Richard is a master gardener. There was a caretaker there who answered questions about the garden and the various varieties.
This is the back of the log house. Notice the wood stacked under the house to keep it dry.
While Alvin, Joseph's oldest brother, was alive he built his parents a beautiful white frame house which was later taken from the family by legal trickery. This is the hearth where at one time the floor bricks were dug up and the Plates were hidden underneath.
This is an example of the oil painting Lucy Mack Smith did to provide extra money for her family.
This fence is "horse high and hog tight." It is high enough to keep the horses and larger animals out and the rocks along the bottom keep the wild pigs from rooting in the gardens. These fences are portable, but what a lot of work to move or maintain them.
A side view of the white frame house with its garden. Part of this home is original so they could strip back the wood and see what the original colors were.
Lucy Mack Smith kept bees. In the humid climate, trees die from the inside out so many of them are hollow. These hollow trees were cut in sections to become beehives. Some of the hollow trees were used as barrels. From the size of some of the trees I could easily imagine hiding the plates, a larger animal, or even a person inside a hollow tree.
The Sacred Grove
The background of the Christus statue in the visitors' center is of the Sacred Grove. We were able to spend a couple of hours there looking at exhibits while part of our tour group went to the temple.
It was a joy to attend the Palmyra Temple again. There were many memories of the precious times we had been there with Neal and Katrina and especially the sealings of Danial and Anna to their parents.
We looked out the clear temple window at the Sacred Grove and admired the the beautiful stained glass windows in which every leaf was unique. What a memorable experience we had in Palmyra!
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