TOUR N67 – Palmyra to Kirtland
with beautiful Fall colors!
Dates/Days
Departs Tuesday Oct 14, 2013 and scheduled to return to Salt Lake City Sunday Oct 19. 6 great days, 5 restful nights.
Summary
Tour begins with an overnight stay at awesome Niagara Falls Canada (passport or passport card required) then experience some of the most important spiritual sites in the history of this world including Mendon, Palmyra and the Sacred Grove and Smith log home where the Moroni visits took place and Smith frame home, the grave of Alvin Smith in the Palmyra Cemetery, the Martin Harris Farm, and Hill Cumorah. Also, Fayette where the Church was organized and the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon saw the plates from which it was translated, saw the Angel Moroni, heard the voice of God witness the translation was true. Then, Harmony Pennsylvania where most of the Book of Mormon was translated, where Joseph met and fell in love with and eventually eloped from with Emma. Then we go down to the Susquehanna River where John the Baptist restored the Aaronic priesthood and near where Peter, James, and John appeared and restored the higher Priesthood! Then a rest stop at Mark Twain’s Elmira College on the way to Kirtland. In Kirtland, spend two unforgettable, incredible days in and around the area. More revelations and visions took place there than all other church history sites combined! The Kirtland Temple alone is worth the whole trip. But there is also the Newell K. Whitney Store & School of the Prophets, restored Whitney home, Pioneer water-driven saw mill, Fairport Harbor on Lake Erie, the home of siblings Eliza R. and Lorenzo Snow, and the John Johnson farm where D&C 76 was given in the presence of a room full of people! You will never forget it!
Motels
Quite nice! Good places to sleep, just right for our short-time needs at the motels. Always clean and comfortable. Indoor swimming pool most nights.
Food
Deluxe continental breakfasts at all motels, tasty sack lunches on the bus as we travel in comfort from site to site (saves over an hour each day allowing time to see more in fewer days!), and wonderful buffets for dinners. Great food is plentiful and so have been the compliments on past tours!
Palmyra Temple
The Lord’s purposes cannot be frustrated for long. The beautiful Palmyra Temple is built on the Smith farm property and overlooks the Sacred Grove! How wonderful that without any violence or bloodshed, 168 years from the time the Smiths had to flee Palmyra, this wonderful temple could be built and welcomed on the same property the Smith family loved and lost. We’ll gather there for a cherished group photo, available at optional, minimal cost.
Special features
Niagara Falls stay, including thrilling Maid of the Mist boat ride right up to the Falls (raincoat provided!). Then we pick up sack lunches at a local shop, eat them on the bus while traveling down the scenic Niagara River to a wonderful and fun stop in the artsy, shopping town of Niagara-on-the-Lake before heading back to New York.
Two inspiring lectures by Karl R. Anderson (author, patriarch, wonderful person!) about the building of the Kirtland Temple and the glorious events that took place therein. Private tour of the Kirtland Temple.
Each day starts with a hymn and a prayer and ends the same way. Presentations on the bus while traveling between the sites are inspiring and informative. As much as practical, sites are visited in historical order to make this complex history easier to understand and remember.
This tour is hosted by Joe Staker whose knowledge of and love for this history and for Joseph Smith are evident and inspiring to all who travel with Joe. In addition to enjoying how he shares these amazing stories of the people who lived through these early days of the Church, you’ll enjoy Joe’s engaging sense of humor and kind demeanor. You can’t go wrong with this man as your guide.
At the sites listed below, carefully-prepared vignettes and historical accounts are given of the faith promoting events that took place. Tour members are invited to read scriptures and words of those who were there, at some of the sites.
Mendon NY
Brigham Young, his father, and all ten living brothers and sisters joined the Church here in 1833. So did their spouses. All went through immense hardships as a result. None ever apostatized. Heber C. Kimball joined, too. Heber’s father is buried here, as is Brigham Young’s first wife, Miriam Works Young. This is a wonderful, wonderful stop. Twelve miles from Palmyra.
Palmyra NY
Smith family farm and log home where Moroni’s visits took place. Sacred Grove (including private meditation time), Hill Cumorah, Grandin Press, Martin Harris Farm, Palmyra Cemetery, group photo at the Palmyra Temple. This is an absolutely unforgettable day!
Fayette NY
Peter Whitmer Farm where the Church was organized. Site of the visions to the three witnesses. Many D&C sections received here.
Harmony PA
Home of Emma’s family. Book of Mormon translated here except for a few pages. Susquehanna River and the restoration of the Priesthood. Temple-like atmosphere at the Susquehanna River.
Elmira NY
Rest stop en route to Kirtland. Mark Twain wrote nearly all of his works here. We visit his grave. Also, grave of very noble runaway slave, John W. Jones.
Kirtland OH
Newell K. Whitney Store (School of the Prophets; Word of Wisdom received here with several other D&C sections). Also brand-new spectacular Kirtland Visitors Center, the newly-restored John Johnson Inn, sawmill, schoolhouse, and ashery. Also a visit to the Isaac Morley Farm (United Order revealed and practiced here) with two very special lectures by Karl Ricks Anderson. After-hours private tour of the Kirtland Temple.
Fairport Harbor OH
On Lake Erie, just 12 miles from Kirtland. Here saints arrived and departed from points east, including nearly all missionaries going to and from Europe.
Hiram OH
John Johnson Farm. Joseph Smith lived here for a year while producing the “Inspired Translation” of the Bible. He was also tarred and feathered here. Many sections of the D&C received including the great 76th three degrees of glory.