The Old Rock Fence and More

Stone fence at Palmyra Temple.

Mr. J and I on the temple path.

Yesterday we worked the morning shift and while I was working in the Grove I talked with Bob Parrott, the caretaker of the grove, who told me that the stone fence to the east of the temple grounds was built by the Smith family. So after our shift we stopped at the temple, walked the small path again and found the spot Bob had marked with orange ties because it is an exceptionally well preserved part of the path. The quality of the workmanship is what has preserved it, and I enjoyed standing there imagining Joseph, his father and brothers loading the stone boat with rocks, hauling them to the property line, and carefully constructing a fence that would last for almost two-hundred years.

After our walk we stopped at one of the four churches on the corners of Main Street in Palmyra. Palmyra is in the Guinness Book of World records as the only city in the world with four Protestant churches at one intersection. The Evangelical church, on the south-east corner, has some beautiful stain glass windows that depict the life of Christ. The Church was built in 1827 and is beautifully preserved and cared for. A delightful historian took us through the building and even let us ring the church bell.

"Plates of Gold"

After our visit to the church, we ate lunch and went to a showing of a new full-length movie called “Plates of Gold.” We had heard about it, but I am always a bit leery about Church movies and was reluctant to take the time to see it. Sometimes these movies take too many liberties with actual history. Other times they are too cheesy. Other times they are so poorly acted and directed that it is difficult to watch them. But we went and I was pleasantly surprised. The movie is not only well done, but moving. (In my opinion, that’s what a “movie” should do to you!) It won’t open in theaters until September, but when it does open go. I’ll be going again. It makes you appreciate on a deeper level all the sacrifice and effort that were necessary to bring forth the Book of Mormon.

The only sad thing is that our time here is running out. To feel what we feel, see what we see, and experience what we have been experiencing both from the history here and the wonderful people we have met is extraordinary and I'm not sure I want to go back to "real" life.

More Restoration Sites

Mr.J and I at Lake Ontario

Yesterday was our day off and we filled every minute of it. We began with a ride up north to Lake Ontario and the Sodus Point light house. We found a delightful park in Pultneyville and had a delicious lunch at a restaurant that overlooked the lake. After that we picked up our friend, Matt Baker, in Palmyra who took us to Harmony, PA, and the surrounding Church history sights. Matt is the area coordinator for seminaries and institutes and is well versed in Church history.

Chris and I at the "Emily" sign.

We started our tour at what is now the county fairgrounds in South Bainbridge, NY, where on January 18, 1827, Joseph Smith eloped to marry Emma Hale. The home of the judge is no longer standing but a state historical marker is there stating that it is the place where Joseph Smith married “Emily” Hale. It is a mistake but anti-Mormons use it to claim that Joseph was a polygamist from the beginning because he had two wives Emily and Emma. There used to be another marker someplace in the area explaining that Joseph found the gold plates there. Another mistake.

Matt next took us to some homes most tourists never get to see. Historians have identified where Josiah Stowell and Joseph Knight lived and their homes are still standing. Private LDS owners have bought the homes and are restoring them. Both men were very affluent and influential. It was once thought that Joseph Knight hired Joseph to build a well on his property, but further study has led historians to believe that is incorrect. Later Knight recommended Joseph to Josiah Stowell who was looking for help to dig on his property for Spanish treasure. Hence Joseph Smith became known as a treasure seeker and gold digger. Joseph stayed in both those places many times.

While working for Stowell, Joseph boarded with a prominent family, the Hales, who lived in Harmony (about 30 miles from Knight and Stowell) and that is when the love story of Joseph and Emma began. Emma was a school teacher, educated, refined, but knew how to hunt and canoe—a bit of a tomboy! As I read about her I get the impression she was her father’s favorite and you can imagine their disappointment when of all the suitors she had, she choose to elope with an uneducated farm boy.

After they eloped Joseph and Emma spent their honeymoon in the Stowell home and it was Josiah Stowell who helped the couple elope. In their day these homes were the best around. They had beautiful wide, plank floors and several bedrooms upstairs. It made me think of all the sacrifices Emma made to marry, support, and be a help to Joseph.

Joseph Knight home.

Palmyra was the cradle of the restoration of the Church, but Colesville, the area where the Stowell and Knight farms are, was the place of the first converts. Joseph preached often in a large barn owned by Joseph Knight and it was there that the first branch of the Church was formed (Joseph baptized Emma in a pond near the Knight home) and it was those saints that proved to be some of the strongest and most loyal of the early Church. I felt it such an honor to stand where they had stood. I found myself wishing those old walls could speak and tell me all they knew!

Out last stop was in Oakland, PA, the current name of what used to be Harmony, and stood on the 13 acres that Joseph bought from his father-in-law and where Emma and Joseph lived while he translated most of the Book of Mormon. The house is gone, but you can still see the foundation stones. Across the street and down a little is where Emma’s parent’s home stood. Isaac Hale was a prominent man who owned a very large parcel of land. The Hale home is also gone, but it was large, and the Hale land fertile and beautiful.

Near the home sites is the cemetery where Emma’s parents and Joseph and Emma’s first child, Alvin, are buried. Next to Emma and Joseph’s home site is the monument commemorating the restoration of the Aaronic priesthood. It was also someplace in this area that the Melchezidek priesthood was restored and Olive and Joseph were baptized in the Susquehanna River. We went wading in the rocky (no sand here) wide, gentle river which was used heavily in Joseph’s day for transportation. I’d forgotten how warm the water is. It isn’t very deep river and I could image all the boats and barges traveling on the river and Joseph going by canoe from there to Colesville.

To get the bigger feel of the place, imagine being surrounded with small mountains covered in thick, dense forest and everywhere you look shades of lush green. Narrow wandering roads are bordered with orange day lilies and hollyhocks that grow wild and quaint old homes that are still lived in and cared for.

God choose some beautiful places to restore His gospel!

Miracle in the Cooper Shop

Yesterday cloud cover kept Palmyra at a perfect temperature and the threatened rain never occurred. We spent the morning driving over to Seneca Falls to visit a delightful Mennonite Store, Sauders Store, that sells all kinds of fresh produce, cheeses, pastries, jams and mixes for soups, dips, cakes and everything else you can imagine. We stocked up on goods to keep us through the week , made a quick lunch out of what we bought, and then drove to work.

Our afternoon shift began at 1:30 with a devotional and at 2:00 we were in the north-east loop of the Sacred Grove. Since that is the farthest out part of the mile and one-half trail not as many people roam there so the main sounds come from singing birds and rumbling insects. Every hour we change posts and that means that yesterday we got to be stationed at the cooper shop and the threshing barn, my favorite posts, where I get to tell the story of how Joseph Smith hid the gold plates under the floor boards of the cooper shop. Shortly after he hid them he received the impression that he should move them. He obeyed and put them in the loft of the cooper shop under some stalks. When a mob came seeking the gold, they demolished the floor of the cooper shop, never found the plates, and went away angry. The entire time the plates were just over their heads in the loft, but they never found them.

Over 1300 people came through the Farm yesterday some to experience it and some to say they had been here. It is very interesting to see the difference.

The First Two Days

Monday night we boarded the midnight special (aka the red-eye special) and arrived at JFK airport at 6:00 in the morning tired, but excited. We rented a car and drove to Palmyra, NY. According to our Google map it should have taken us 5 and ½ hours but a left turn that should have been a right turn made that a seven hour journey. We arrived at our hotel tired and hot—it seems New York is experiencing a heat wave and we have been inundated.

We unpacked, and took a ride to get our bearing then ate dinner at The Depot, a restaurant situated in a Railroad depot built in 1911. The walls were covered with memorabilia and being in the room made you feel like you’d been transported in time back to the days of railroad travel. The surprise was that the food was wonderful. I had eggplant over penne pasta that was fantastic and for dessert we share a piece of crème Brule cheesecake that was absolutely heavenly. I usually don’t eat sugar or dessert, but I had to try a few bites of that cheesecake and I was glad I did.

This morning we went to the Sacred Grove first things. We took the tour and then walked around the grove and finally sat in a secluded spot where we spent the next few hours. Carl took pictures and I read the Joseph Smith History from the Pearl of Great Price. To read those words in the place they happened, written in first person as if Joseph were there speaking to me cased my hair to stand on end in delight. Electricity surged through me, and I felt as much as read the words.

Finally it was time for our orientation meeting and we drove down the street to the Palmyra stake center where Pres. Jack Christenson, and President Lakin, the director of the historical sites, spoke to a chapel full of couples like us volunteering to help out during pageant. The spirit was so strong and the feelings so heavenly. Someone quoted President Hinckley who said that next to Palestine, this is the most sacred place on earth. I believe it. You don’t have to be told that. You can feel it. We sang “Praise to the Man” as the closing hymn and again the electricity surged through me. It was here that Joseph “communed with Jehovah.” I know that! And my life is blessed so very much because of that visit.

Tonight we went to the Smith farm and received more training and tomorrow morning we begin our two weeks missionary service.

(It is so late and I am so tired, I hope any of this even makes sense, but I wanted to share with you what we are experiencing. It is amazing!)