Palmyra!!!

Well, living only about 1 hr and 15 minutes away from all the Church Historic sites in Palmyra is better then I thought it would be, and I thought it would be great!!! It was so wonderful to see all these sites I taught so much about on my mission. The First Vision in the Sacred Grove, Hill Cumorah and the Gold Plates, and the actual original home Joseph Smith hide the Gold Plates... it was incredible!

Our first stop, The Hill Cumorah! So beautiful. We stopped here and had lunch at the top and looked out at all the beautiful scenery!

This is the beautiful view from the top of the Hill Cumorah.



Our next stop was the Palmyra Temple! Also really beautiful. I loved the window's on the temple, they had a stained glass depiction of the Sacred Grove.

Here are the windows!!





We played on the temple grounds for a while, and captured some adorable pictures of Ciella with us!

It was here at the Temple that Ciella found her shadow for the very first time!
Then she had a blast playing with her shadow and mine!!Our next stop was The Smith Family Farm, the replica! It was amazing to walk through and take the tour to hear all the small details that I didn't know about. The spirit hit me hard here!! The Smith family of 8 lived in this small 1 and 1/2 story home!!! Although this is a replica, this home is built on the exact spot the original was on! I'm telling you I learned a lot from these tours!!

This is some of the property that the Smith's owned!

This is the "Frame House" that Hyrum and Family built for Lucy Smith. This is not a replica, it is the original house that stood then. Some parts have been restored of course! In this house is the original fireplace that Joesph Smith hide the actual Gold Plates from the mobs.

And here is the fireplace! The Original !!! Bricks and all...i think!?Obviously the decor in the house wasn't from the original home(although it is from that time period!). Actually what happened is the Smiths moved here and then lost it shortly after, so they moved back into the "Farm house". This "Frame House" was sold to someone else who added walls, wallpaper and an edition to the porch. When the Church bought this property years ago, they removed all the added on stuff and took the home back to its original form. Some of the house has been restored. But mostly its original. Like the walls in this picture above are the original, but i think the flour isn't, I cant remember about the floor. But you get my point!!


Then we were off to the most exciting place of them all... The Sacred Grove!!!!!
I felt like I had been waiting my whole life to see this place!! I could hardly contain myself! Its too bad Ciella isn't old enough to remember it!

The pictures do not do this place justice. It was unbelievable! I can't tell you how many times that day I felt the spirit!

While we were taking a break from walking, we got Ciella out of the stroller to run and right in front of us walked this huge deer. It had HUGE antlers and everything!!!! It was too quick to catch a picture, but unbelievable none the less!

Our next stop was the Publication site of the Book of Mormon!! The Grandin Building.
I forgot to get a picture of the outside, but heres the inside. The floors are all the original floors from way back then! The made cool sounds as you walked through! They sounded old!


The last place we stopped was the Martin Harris Farm. They don't offer tours, it is a privatly owned home, so we took a picture and left!


The only place we didnt make it to was in Waterloo, NY about 40 minutes past Palmyra. The Peter Whitmer Farm! It was too bad we didn't make it, but Ciella was on her last leg...
Next time we will go there first. There, the Chuch was organized, parts of the Book of Mormon were translated there and much much more!!

We had a blast and were so glad we came!!!