Peter

From this church building, the 150th anniversary of the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was broadcast to the world on April 6, 1980. President Spencer W. Kimball presided at the historic meeting. The building has been added to several times since 1980 as the ward and stake have grown. Visitors center is in the left wing.
Chapel in the Fayette Stake Center where President Kimball spoke in 1980.
Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris, the Three Witnesses, were shown the golden plates by Moroni in a wooded area on the Peter Whitmer Farm.
"The Moment After," a sculpture about the Restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood by Peter, James and John, Christ's original apostles, stands on a box containing memorabilia from the 150th anniversary celebration. The box will be opened for the 200th anniversary in 2030.
Reconstruction of the Peter Whitmer home. Foundations from this building were discovered in 1947. The cabin was rebuilt from old logs and was finished in April, 1980.
Living room in the Peter Whitmer farmhouse where the church was organized. Between 50 and 60 people were present. In modern times, 50 people have attended services in this spacious log cabin.
Room in the attic of the Peter Whitmer home where Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery translated the Small Plates of Nephi. Several revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants were also received in this room.

Smith Farm

Tours of the Joseph Smith Farm begin at this visitors center. Guides allow visitors to access the historic homes. A walking tour of the Sacred Grove is unguided.
"Face to Face" is the title of this sculpture depicting Joseph Smith's First Vision. Dee Jay Bawden and his workshop produced this masterpiece, which was commissioned by the Hyrum Smith descendants for the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Prophet Joseph.
Reconstruction of the Smith Family's log home, built in 1818. Logs came out of the Grove.
Main room of the Smith Log Cabin. Eleven people ate dinner around this table. On the table is the family's King James Bible, where Joseph read in James 1:5.
Attic bedroom in the Log Home where the Angel Moroni appeared to Joseph and told him about the golden plates.
Smith family.s frame home has been occupied continuously since it was built from 1822-1825. It is 85% original and has been restored to the appearance it would have had in 1827.
Joseph Smith hid the golden plates under the bricks of this fireplace in the living room of the frame home.
Kitchen in the frame home had a bread oven, a work area, and a separate eating area. Lucy loved the soapstone sink her sons provided for her. Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris were visitors to this room.
Joseph Smith, Sr. was a master cooper. This reconstructed cooper shop is used every summer for demonstrations of the cooper's craft. The plates were hidden under the floor and in the loft of the Smith family's cooper shop.
Threshing barn from the 1820s was located in Mendon, NY, and reconstructed on the site where the Smith barn once stood.
Wooden tools for threshing grain in the barn. The barn has a work area for storing and maintaining tools, a drying area for grain, a loft to store feed for animals in the winter, a grainery storage room, and the threshing area for processing grain grown on the farm.

Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit

In 1947, a Bedouin shepherd boy searching for a lost goat happened onto caves where ancient scrolls and records had been preserved in pottery jars. These were from the library of a Jewish group known as the Essenes, who lived near the Dead Sea at around the time of Christ. They valued their scriptures above all things, and when the Romans attacked their land at the time of the Jewish Revolt, they sealed up their records in these caves. Some were hastily buried without jars and survived only as fragments. Other scrolls are well-preserved and are virtually complete. These texts are nearly a thousand years older than any extant Biblical texts. It is interesting to note that the texts agree quite well with copies from which the modern-day Bible was extracted. Libraries of valuable early documents have been found in the previous century in Israel, in Egypt and in other ancient libraries uncovered recently. None of these had been discovered in the 1820s.
An archaeological dig found the ruins of Qumran, the community where the Essenes wrote and preserved these scrolls. They had an elaborate water system and pools for ritual cleansing or baptism in some form. Their scriptorium had long tables where scrolls could be copied.
Model of Qumran showing the pools and the rooms of the community center.
Ceramic jars similar to these were used to preserve the scrolls. The scrolls were mostly written on leather, though some were on parchment. At least one was on copper, which was a great challenge for opening in a form where it could be read. The copper scroll lists temple treasure. None of the treasure has been located.
Segments of the Great Isaiah Scroll. This 28-foot work contains all 66 chapters of the Book of Isaiah. Isaiah was highly prized at Qumran; several Isaiah scrolls were found in various states of preservation. Fragments or portions of every book of the Old Testament except for the Book of Esther have been found in the scrolls. Three long scroll segments are on display in this exhibition.
Ancient oil lamps, as referred to by Christ in the Parable of the Ten Virgins, are displayed in this case These will fit in a hand and can be carried to light one's way. The large hole accesses the chamber where oil was kept. A wick was inserted in the smaller hole. One of these lamps could burn for several hours. Some of these date to more than 1,000 years before Christ.
Roman coins and a sword blade found in the archaeological dig at Qumran. It is not known what happened to the residents there. Bodies were not discovered in the dig. All of the scriptures had been moved to the caves before the Romans arrived, though some had not been placed in linen and sealed with wax in jars, so they did not fare so well over the centuries as the ones which had been more carefully wrapped and sealed. These ancient records are too fragile to tour. Brigham Young University made careful replicas on leather by a photo-copying method which actually allows them to be read by anyone with Aramaic or Hebrew language skills. There are many posters showing blow-ups of some of the more interesting fragments, including demonstrating methods used to raise the lettering so it could be read on darkened and damaged scrolls fragments. This exhibition will be at the Hill Cumorah through the end of March, 2008. There is no charge to visitors.

Grandin Publication Site

The Book of Mormon Historic Publication Site is a highly acclaimed restoration of a print shop from the period 1829-1830. The building has been painstakingly returned to its original condition with a visitors center wrapped around the three stories of the Grandin Building which was built right after the Erie Canal was finished in 1825. The building is one block from the position of the original canal. Because the print shop on the third floor was unoccupied during the intervening years, even ink splashes from the time of the Book of Mormon publication remain on the walls.
Bookstore on the first floor. Most books of the period were sold unbound because people who owned books generally wanted them bound to match. Bibles came bound in fine leather. Because the Book of Mormon was to be a companion to the Bible, it was also bound in leather. The first Books of Mormon were sold from this counter starting on March 26, 1830. Isaac Singer did the woodwork in the bookstore.
E. B. Grandin's office where the contract for the Book of Mormon was signed. Hyrum Smith brought each day's portion of the manuscript to this office and took it home again in the evening. Colors are original.
John Gilbert was the primary typesetter for the Book of Mormon. Since the manuscript came without paragraphing or punctuation, Mr. Gilbert painstakingly supplied these. Upper case letters (capitals) are stored in the upper cases, while lower case letters are kept in the lower cases because they were easier for the typesetter to reach. Mr. Gilbert was very fast and accurate at his work. The 570-page book was typeset and printed in just over 7 months.
The Smith Patented Improved Press, which Mr. Grandin purchased a few months before receiving the contract to publish the Book of Mormon, made the big project possible. Its powerful springs made very clean copies and shortened the laborious work of printing 5,000 copies.
Folded "signatures" containing 16 pages each are carefully sewn together at these work stations.
There were 37 "signatures" in each Book of Mormon.
Once sewn, hot glue was placed on the back of each book to strengthen it prior to being bound.
A special clamp and cutting tool removed the folds from the "signatures" just before the cover was put on each book.
First edition Books of Mormon had their titles done with gold leafing, one letter at a time. A first edition will have slightly irregular positioning on the letters due to being done by hand.

Smith Farm in the Winter

The Welcome Center is the starting point for tours of the historical buildings. Paths lead from here into the Sacred Grove and also from the Frame Home area. A tour guide has keys to the buildings.
The descendants of Hyrum Smith commissioned this wonderful sculpture of Joseph Smith's First Vision for the 200th anniversary of the Prophet's birth. This is the centerpiece of the Welcome Center.
The Smith family's log cabin and the peaceful farm shows from the windows of the welcome center. The center is open winter and summer, except for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's. Telephone number at the center is 315-597-1671.
This massive tree was probably planted at the time the cabin was built. The master arborist, Bob Parrott, is working hard to keep the tree alive, as it is approaching old age.
East side of the Smith Log Home. This building is a replica, made from trees taken out of the Grove, of the one the Smith family built in 1818 when they began clearing their land. This was also the home where Joseph was visited by the Angel Moroni in 1823.
Along the path between the Log Home and the Frame Home is a spectacular view of the Palmyra Temple. A clear window in the lobby looks out over the Sacred Grove and early sun shines on the tops of the great old witness trees standing in the 6 acres of grove that have never been cut.
Zigzag fences can be moved at will. They do not have permanent fence posts. Animals were fenced out of land, not into land, at that time period. A traditional haystack is in the center of the field behind the fence.
The Frame Home was begin in 1825 by Alvin Smith for his parents. Before it was finished he died. This home is 85% original and has been returned to its appearance from around 1827. Many additions had been built onto this house and it has been continuously occupied since being finished. It is a large, comfortable home. Under the bricks of the fireplace in the living room of this house the Golden Plates were buried for protection from mobs.
Replica of the box where the Golden Plates were often hid during the time Joseph Smith had them in his possession for purposes of translation. The original box is in Salt Lake City.
Replica of the threshing barn which stood on the Smith property. This one, dating from the 1820s, was moved here. Sheaves of grain were dried in the barn and then threshed out during the winter months. The barn also has a work room where farm implements were stored and maintained.
Joseph Smith Sr. and Hyrum Smith were master coopers. Coopers made barrels and buckets, and to make a completely watertight product was a skill requiring serious craftsmanship. This shop produces barrels and buckets in the summer months and was assembled by a master cooper from upstate New York. All of the artifacts are authentic. The Golden Plates were hidden in such a cooper's shop (this one is a replica) under the floor and then in the loft above where flax was stored.

Sacred Grove

The Sacred Grove is the place where God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith in the spring of 1820. This forest in upstate New York has a core of 6 acres that have never been cut and contains several massive trees which would have been there at the time of this great heavenly manifestation. This tree shows the size of the base of these witness trees.
Like any healthy forest, there are beautiful fungal growths in late autumn. This picture was taken on October 2, 2007.
Younger areas of the grove are recovering from being cleared at one point or another. This section shows many young, healthy trees springing up naturally.
The Apostles Tree, one of the witness trees which died in 2007 after great efforts to save the tree, is still an impressive standing trunk with twelve massive arms. This view was taken in December of 2007 with eighteen inches of snow on the ground.
The Apostles Tree on October 2, 2007, surrounded by forest. This tree is an Ironwood.
Sugar maple tree which has been tapped for sap from which to make sirup and sugar. The Smith farm produced these products. Family members worked hard to make a living and harvest what they could grow and produce on their land.
The Adversity Tree is on the lower path of the grove. This tree grew an extra limb to support itself, which naturally grew back into the trunk higher up. This can be done by grafting, but the arborist who cares for the grove says this is the first time he has seen this occur in nature without human assistance.
The massive old trees point to heaven and give a feeling of reverence in this holy place. The upper leaves of the largest trees show from the windows of the temple in the early morning light. In all seasons the grove is a wonderful place to visit.