Kirtland Trip

Last Monday (7/27), we visited Historic Kirtland with our new friends Elizabeth and Kory Miskin. It was a beautiful day--sunny and warm--perfect for touring!
Our first stop was the Church's Visitor's Center, where we were greeted by our Sister Missionary guides and shown a video about the early Church in Kirtland.

This model (located in the John Johnson Inn) shows what historic Kirtland looked like:

This river, near the Visitor's Center, is where the early Saints in Kirtland were baptized (all year round! The missionaries shared a story about a man who chose to be baptized on January 1st so that he could make a new beginning on the start of a new year! They had to cut away ice to do this...brr!).

The famous Newell Kay Whitney Store was located right in the heart of old Kirtland (and just up the path from the Visitor's Center).

Here we are out in front of the Store:

And with the Miskins (whose baby is due in less than a month!):

This is where the goods were sold, in the main part of the Store:

The N.K. Whitney store was not only the center of town, but the center for news. N.K. Whitney was the postmaster for old Kirtland, and townmembers congregated here to hear and share the latest news. This is an old checkerboard table at which shoppers played and chatted:

And this is a copy of the Store's record book. N.K. Whitney was a meticulous record keeper, and so we know what items were formerly sold in his Store. Here is a copy of one page of the book which lists some items bought by the Prophet Joseph Smith. (Cool, huh?)

These are some shoes from the time. (In those days, shoes were made interchangeably so that they didn't wear out as easily.)

N.K. Whitney re-organized the upstairs portion of his Store for use by the Prophet and his family. In this room, Joseph Smith did much of his Church work in Kirtland (it was his office). This was where he did his work on the Bible, and where he recieved many revelations, including the Word of Wisdom.

A Bible:

Many of the floorboards in this room were original. It was an amazing feeling to think that we were walking on the exact place where the Prophet walked, and where divine manifestations were seen. (In those days, they liked to paint their floors, and here you can see some of the original paint.)

This upstairs room was the "School of the Prophets." This is where the Prophet instructed the Bretheren early on, and where more divine revelations and manifestations were recieved and seen. I can't describe how it felt to be in the same room where several men saw God the Father, but I can tell you that I'd like to go back again and sit on those benches for a while.

This is the fireplace where the Bretheren threw their pipes into the fire after the Prophet taught them the Word of Wisdom:

This room was revamped for Joseph and his family's personal use. (Notice the trundle bed and cradle that would have been used by Joseph and Emma's young children.)

Here is the kitchen in the downstairs of the Store where the Smith Family cooked and ate. The china set here was Emma's favorite. It was neat to picture them in our minds sitting here around the table for a meal.

This is N.K. Whitney's home, where the Whitney family (and also Joseph Smith and his family) lived. This house was located just across the street from the Whitney Store.

Some linens embroidered with N.K. Whitney's initials. (For some reason, seeing these made the house just seem so much more real to me.)

A period-authentic Bible rests on the table here:

This is the parlor, where some Church business was also conducted, and where the Whitney's and Smith's entertained. (Both the Whitney's Store and home served as unofficial headquarters for the Church at some time.) It impressed me that the Whitney's lent the Smith's the only private bedroom in their house--N.K. and his wife thus slept with their children upstairs. What faithful, generous people!

This was the John Johnson Inn (which now hosts several displays and artifacts and lies just down the street from the Whitney's home). The Inn was also used as a Church office building, and Church materials were printed in the upstairs of the Inn for a time as well.

The sawmill, where materials for the Temple were made:

Here, inside the mill is a replica of the temple pulpits:

This is the ashery, where the Saints refined ash into various substances in order to earn money:

A view inside the ashery. (At the top of the right column are some of the original bricks.)

This is one of the ovens, where the most valuable ash product was made:

Located around the sawmill and ashery were these woods and wild flowers:

After leaving the Visitor's Center, we got some lunch at a local diner, and then headed over to the Kirtland Temple, where we went on the tour. (Unfortunately, you're not allowed to take pictures inside the Temple, so I took as many of the outside as I could.)

Here we are in front of the Temple (isn't Grace's expression great?). Inside the temple, we were taken on tours through the first and second floors (the third was under construction), and even got to take a peek at the original walls of the Temple through an open door in the inner wall. It was really cool to look at the stones, and think about the Saints who had labored and sacrificed so much to put them there, and build a house for the Lord.

These Temple doors are original, as is most of the first floor of the Temple (and yes, they were originally green!). Interestingly enough, the temple was not originally white, but a bluish gray, and the roof of the Temple was red!

Having some fun walking along the Temple grounds. I love this picture! Grace LOVES "flying" with her dad!

It was amazing to sit on the same benches that the early Saints sat on during the Temple dedication, and to look at the pulpits where Joseph Smith and Parly P.Pratt recieved the Temple keys.

I'm so glad that this building has been preserved so that we could have this experience!

A flower on the Temple grounds:

Our last stop of the day was the Cemetery, located directly across the street from the Temple. Here, Saints such as John Johnson and members of the Morley family were buried. Walking along, I found this memorial gravestone for members of the Smith family:

All in all, we had a great day, with good weather, good friends, and good memories. We can't wait to go back again!