Born in Vermont

After we left New York state, we headed east to Vermont. We stayed in White River Junction, Vermont, which is on the Vermont/New Hampshire border. Our hotel was in Vermont, but the restaurants and shopping were in New Hampshire. This was a first time trip to Vermont and New Hampshire for either of us. In fact, neither one of us have ever been to New England before this trip. It is beautiful. In fact, both of us said that if we ever had to move to the east coast for some reason, Vermont, New Hampshire, or even Maine would be the ideal places to go, as long as you don't have to go to work during the winter months. Every where we went was small town rural living in beautiful areas. But we don't anticipate making a move to the east coast; we prefer the west coast.

Besides wanting to see New England, there was another reason that we wanted to visit Vermont. Hopefully, everyone reading this will enjoy the pictures, but this post will be especially interesting to our Latter-day Saint friends. We visited Sharon, Vermont, the birthplace of the Prophet Joseph Smith. A senior missionary couple from Kaysville, Utah, currently serve as tour guides for the church-owned property. (Their mission will be finished in one more month.)

The husband in the missionary couple gave the tour and he did a marvelous job, bringing both of us close to tears a couple of times. He told us that this particular site receives the most non-LDS visitors, mostly because church members find it too out of the way to visit. Palmyra's visitors are 99% LDS while the Vermont site gets 15% non-LDS.

In his dedicatory prayer for the monument on December 23, 1905, President Joseph F. Smith (Joseph's nephew) stated that this monument would be safe from nature. Though the area sits on earthquake faults, shakings and rumblings over the years have done no damage to the monument. The monument sits exactly as it was erected in 1905; it hasn't shifted one inch nor does it have any cracks. It has also never been hurt by lightening.

In 2008, Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin visited the area shortly before he passed away. We can't remember if it was him or President Joseph F. Smith who gave the next promise, but the monument was also blessed that it would be free from malice and caprice -- and it has been.

We can't remember if it was President Smith or Elder Wirthlin, but one of them stated that angels surrounded the monument to protect it.

We should have been taking notes during the presentation because the tour guide also said that Elder Wirthlin gave specific promises and blessings to those who visited the site (that would be us), but now we can't remember the promises and blessings.😡

Elder Wirthlin also said that for church members this was the second-most sacred site, after Bethlehem.

We are so glad we took the time to make this stop. It was a very spiritual experience for us.

For some video of the tour, please see our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIZykLc6Oo4. Sandy recorded the tour guide as he took us by the sites of the two Mack homes.

The story of how Junius Wells, who was sent to Vermont by Joseph F. Smith to secure the land and commission the monument, was miraculous and worth reading. The tour guide told us the spiritual and emotional story. If you want to read it, go to this site https://www.lds.org/study/ensign/1988/02/the-joseph-smith-memorial-a-1905-tribute-to-the-prophet-and-his-work?lang=eng  At one point, Junius Wells was ready to abandon the project because moving the granite monument was too much for the muddy roads and the horses and wagon wheels kept sinking and getting stuck. He was going to telegram President Smith to tell him that there was no way to create the monument in Vermont and they would have to do it in Salt Lake City. Before he sent the telegram, he prayed and told Heavenly Father that if He wanted this monument, then a miracle was needed. That night the temperature dropped 35 to 45 degrees and the muddy wet roads completely hardened with ice to the point that the wagon carrying the monument could finish its journey. The drop in temperature only lasted 24 to 48 hours -- long enough for the monument to be carried to its destination.

Since we can't remember everything the elder said we are using the church's website to post information about the site. This information is taken directly from https://history.lds.org/article/historic-sites/vermont/sharon/joseph-smith-birthplace?lang=eng

A fifty-foot monument rises up in the Vermont countryside today, just a few steps from the original site of the roughly 800-square-foot farmhouse where Joseph Smith Jr. was born.1 On December 23, 1805, Lucy Mack Smith delivered a son named after his father, Joseph Smith. The baby born to the Smiths that day would become a prophet who devoted his life to building the kingdom of God on the earth. Raised for the 100th anniversary of the Prophet’s birth, the monument is a witness to the world of the life and mission of Joseph Smith.

The Mack Farm

At the time of Joseph’s birth, the Smith family lived on a farm owned by Lucy’s father, Solomon Mack. The family moved onto the farm only a short time before Joseph’s birth. Having recently suffered a crippling financial setback, the Smiths found refuge on Solomon Mack’s farm.2 Joseph Smith Sr. cultivated land rented from Solomon Mack. Located on the farm, the home Joseph Smith knew as a toddler was a small New England–style frame home with a central chimney.

Though the Smiths only stayed on the Mack farm for three years, the site has remained a spot of significance to Latter-day Saints. As the 100th anniversary of the Prophet Joseph Smith’s birth approached, Junius F. Wells, a longtime admirer of the Prophet, visited the old farm. The landscape had changed since 1805. Fields once cleared and cultivated gave way to new tree growth and pasture lands. Over time clapboards, chimney, and other materials from the home once occupied by the Smiths were removed from the site. Still, landmarks from the former farm remained. Cellar walls, a hearthstone, and a front doorstep showed the location of the humble home where Joseph Smith was born.

Photograph of the foundation of the home at the Joseph Smith birthplace, taken in 1894

Joseph Smith Birthplace Monument

Wells suggested to Church leaders that a monument be built in honor of Joseph Smith, near the location of his birthplace. Working as an agent for the Church, Wells purchased 68 acres of the original Solomon Mack farm and arranged for the construction of a monument. Wells suggested that an obelisk, widely used to commemorate heroes of the past, would honor the memory of Joseph Smith and convey the significance of the Prophet’s life and accomplishments.4Befitting the Prophet’s Vermont roots, the monument was composed of polished granite cut from a nearby quarry. Sitting atop a series of bases, an inscription stone, and a molded cap, the obelisk stone rises 38½ feet, one foot for every year of the Prophet’s life.5

Inscriptions on the monument teach about Joseph Smith’s life and the singular role he played in restoring the gospel of Jesus Christ. The testimony inscription on the monument’s north face proclaims what millions of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints know to be true: that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ in the spring of 1820, that through the gift and power of God he translated the Book of Mormon from plates, that angelic messengers visited him and others to restore God’s authority to minister His gospel and organize His Church on the earth, and that when Joseph Smith was assassinated in June 1844, he “sealed his testimony with his blood.”

For the 100th anniversary of Joseph Smith’s birthday, President Joseph F. Smith, a nephew of the Prophet, returned to the state his uncle and his father had left so long before. Accompanied by several other Church leaders, he dedicated the monument and the surrounding grounds on December 23, 1905. “May it be hallowed by Thy people,” prayed President Smith. “May Thy blessing abide upon it, that it may be a blessed place, where Thy people may visit from time to time and rejoice in contemplating Thy goodness in that Thou hast restored to the earth the fullness of the Gospel of Thy Son, with all the power and authority necessary to administer it and all its ordinances unto the inhabitants of the earth, for their salvation and for the redemption of their dead.”6

The Monument and Memorial Grounds Today

Doorstep stone of the home at the Joseph Smith birthplace.

Several features on the grounds also help visitors connect to the site’s past. The original stone doorstep and stone garden mark the approximate location of the birthplace home. In the visitors’ center, the home’s original hearthstone is also on display. Visitors can also see the nearby foundations of the homes once owned by Solomon Mack and Lucy’s brother Daniel G. Mack.

From the London Morning Chronicle, 1851                               ⤌                                                                                                                                                                            From the New York Herald, 1842 

Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, George W. Bush, Joseph Smith, and Emma Smith all have a common ancestor, John Howland, who was on the Mayflower.

 Original hearthstone of the Smith family home so Joseph, his parents, and siblings all walked across it. It is now part of the visitors center.

These plaques are hard to read but they pretty much say that they are from the original home,

These pictures are of an old turnpike road from about 1790. It was a toll road that would charge around a penny for one person and his horse and would increase in price for families and wagons. It is on the land that the church owns so they have maintained it in its original form.

These piled rocks are from the late 1790's when they were pushed to the side to form the turnpike/toll road. They are still as they were in the 1790's on the portion of the land that the church owns. Those old rock piles have been lost in other parts of the turnpike that are not owned by the church.

This stone bridge was created about the time of the turnpike road. It is very near the Solomon and Daniel G. Mack homes.

From inside the visitors' center. It was built around 1960.

Vermont scenery.

We tried to go to the Calvin Coolidge birth place in Plymouth, Vermont, but it was closed until after Memorial Day. Someone at a store we visited near our hotel told us that it had termites. At least we got the picture of the sign. 😅

#lds #Josephsmith #vermont