Our Vacation in Palmyra, New York

This is a very long post...just giving you an overview of our week in Palmyra visiting my parents who are serving their mission there.

The Erie Canal: One of the unique things around the Palmyra area is the Erie Canal. It is a main waterway that was all dug, by hand, for well over 300 miles that goes from Lake Erie down to New York City. It has many locks on it and a tow-path, where the mules used to tow the barges. We took a cruise on the Erie Canal. It was pretty rainy that day, but we were able to see some very pretty things along the way.

This is as we were entering lock 30. The gates you see are closed, holding back the water on the other side which is much higher than we are on this side.

You can see some of the water spilling through as we get into the lock chamber.

The gates closing behind us...and then the water starts to fill so that we can raise up to the new level of water on the other side.

Here we are almost raised to the higher level.

Church History Sites:

One of the first things we saw was located in the Village of Palmyra....The Grandin Press Building where Joseph Smith took the manuscript of the Book of Mormon to be published for the first time. This is the bookstore on the main level.

This is what the manuscripts would have looked like before publishing.

This is the third level of the building, and the printing shop where it took about 7 months to print the Book of Mormon.

Then the printed pages would be hoisted down to the 2nd level for binding.

The binding actually took longer than the printing process. It involved the folding of the pages, compressing them, glueing and sewing the binding, and then cutting and applying the leather cover. It was a year and a half before the finished Book of Mormon was ready.

A first edition Book of Mormon.

Then we visited the Smith Farm outside of Palmyra. This is inside the beautiful Visitor's Center with the windows looking out across the farm.

The Sacred Grove is just outside the Visitor's Center and not far from the old log home where Joseph Smith lived.

There is such a reverent feeling inside the grove. It is so peaceful and beautiful and much bigger than I imagined. It was a nice overcast day when we walked through and sometimes you would hear the rain drops starting to fall, but they would never reach you inside the shelter of all the trees.

One of my favorite pictures in the Grove. It is an awesome feeling to know that this is the place that God the Father and Jesus Christ visited the young boy, Joseph.

This is one of the few trees that are believed to be old enough to have been in the Grove when Joseph would have been there. They are referred to as the "Witness Trees"

Our awesome tour guide, (Grandpa) Elder Hamblin...I would have gotten lost on all the paths, but he knows the Sacred Grove forward and back!

Brent and I in the Sacred Grove.

Also on the farm is a Cooper Shop. This is where Joseph hid the plates once when a 'deviner' told the mob where to look for them. They believed they were hidden in the floor (which they HAD been) but Joseph had received inspiration to go and move them. He hid them up in this loft...and the mobsters tore up the floor looking for them, but never looked up!

Smith Barn

(Grandma) Sister Hamblin and Brent hangin' out in the barn.

This is the frame home on the Smith Farm. Alvin started this house before he passed away, it was later finished and the Smith family lived there after their log home. Notice the way they built their fences...they would clear the rocks and pile them all together and then build a rail fence over them. This was the kind of fence Joseph would have tried crossing when he lost his strength and fell unconcious...only to be visited again by the Angel Moroni.

Inside the frame home. The whitewashed walls were part of the original home!

This is the fireplace where the Gold Plates were hidden under the hearth bricks.

The Smith's kitchen inside the frame home.

This is the log home on the farm...where Joseph lived as a young man. The Grove of trees you see behind it is the edge of the Sacred Grove.

This is the home where Joseph was reading in the Bible and had the desire to pray and know which church was the true church.

This is the room upstairs where Joseph would have been on the night that the Angel Moroni appeared to him three times. This was the boy's bedroom.

The Visitor's Center at the Hill Cumorah.

The Hill Cumorah.

Brent and I atop the Hill. There is a beautiful Monument built probably very close to where the Golden Plates were hidden in the hill.

At the base of the hill stands this large statue of the Book of Mormon.

Brent inside the Visitor's Center.

The Christus inside the Visitor's Center.

This is a ways away from Palmyra...The Peter Whitmer Farm. The Whitmer's were somewhere inbetween Palmyra where the plates were originally, and Harmony, where Joseph and Emma lived later. A lot of the translation of the Book of Mormon occured here on this farm and also the Restoration of the Church took place here. This is the beautiful Chapel and Visitor's Center that is built next to where the original Whitmer Farm house was located.

Some of the things inside the Visitor's Center. An awesome sculpture portraying the Restoration of the Priesthood.

This is a replica of the original Whitmer Farm Home. It is built on the original foundation.

It was here in this house, where the Book of Mormon was finished being translated.

And here in this main room where the Saints gathered for the Organization of the Church.

Right before we left, we drove down to a Church owned Girl's Camp that is located on Seneca Lake in New York State. This is the beautiful view from the camp.

There is a couple serving there, from Pocatello...the Taylors...and they gave us a great tour around the place! It was absolutely beautiful...with neat cabins, restrooms, showers, dining hall, commercial kitchen, ampitheater, and I could go on all day...let's just say it is not like any Girl's Camp I have EVER seen, and the most elite thing you can imagine. Those campers are SPOILED and LUCKY to be able to attend such a place!

You have to have golf carts to get around the whole camp...it is huge!

This is outside the dining hall and kitchen...with Elder and Sister Taylor.

Down on the waterfront dock on Lake Seneca.  You can see the buildings and barns above that are all part of the Camp.

The sunset out over Lake Seneca was just breathtaking!

We also were able to visit the Palmyra Temple while we were there, only it was a total down pour on the day we were there, so there aren't any pictures of us, but this was the view of the Temple from the Smith Farm.

This was the night before we left, the Temple all lit up...it was beautiful!