The Sacred Grove, Hill Cumorah and Historic sites

This week for Travel Tuesday, I am going to showcase a place a little different than I normally do.  For most, this particular destination in New York may have no historical significance.  If you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, then this area may have a bit more of importance to you, for the desire to travel too.

Hill Cumorah

However, because it is a beautiful place in the town of Palmyra, New York.  I thought I would show some of the sites to you all in case you are ever in the area, you can stop in and learn a little bit of early American history that you may not already be familiar with.

Monument at Hill Cumorah

This is actual an area that you can visit and see all of the historical sites in 1 day.  Although you may feel the need to spend a couple of days in the beautiful area.
I started at Hill Cumorah - During certain dates in July if you enjoy pageants, they have an amazing one they host outdoors on the hill.  The pageant is a major theatrical production that is produced on 10 different levels of stages and a costume cast of over 650 people.  This they will tell 10 short stories that have been taken from the Bible and Book of Mormon.
If you are in the area, this is a spectacular performance you wont want to miss.  Additionally it is free to the public, however you will want to get their early for best seating.

Next on my day tour I visited the Sacred Grove.  This is a free self guided tour area, they just ask that you be respectful of the surroundings and stay on the marked paths.

If you are interested you can take a guided tour and learn more about the area, and the story of how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints began.

The homes you can tour in the area, have been recreated to look as much as possible as they would have back during the early times of the church when they were lived in.

Even the interiors have been recreated to look as they would have in the 1820's

The guides who take you on these tours, will tell you fun lesser known stories of the ways of life back then.

You'll even learn a bit of what it was like to grow up in the country during that time, life as a farmer.

They really did do a great job of furnishing these homes, back then all furniture was made by hand and usually you made it yourself, especially if you were poor.

You can actually walk around and tour it yourself.  But if you'd like to go inside the homes and old farm houses, you will need a free guide for this tour.

After your done with the guided tour, you can grab a quick glance at the beautiful Palmyra temple that looks as if it is half hidden in the lush green forest hills.

Next, go out on your own, and start on the many trail ways in the Sacred Grove.  Like most historical sites of this nature, they just ask you be respectful of others so they can enjoy the peace, in other words no yelling:)

This lush forest is a beautiful place to walk around and listen to nature.

I went in the earlier morning hours, and I highly recommend this as the light that comes through the tree's at that hour is spectacular.

If you love beautiful sights as I do, you'll want to take your camera as you walk the different trails.  However, this is a lush forest, and at times they do have mosquito's.  My only regret was that I didn't put on a little bug spray before starting into it.  However, with that said, I was only bitten a few times:)

For those interested in the history of the Book of Mormon, you can also stop off at this Historic site, where the book was first published.

You can tour the printing presses, they'll show you how they did it back in those days.  I can seriously not imagine how much time it took to place by hand each individual letter in the blocks for each word, let alone each different page.
If you'd like you can even do it yourself, and receive your own printed page off one of the old fashion printing presses.

IF YOU GO:

*  All tours are free and open to the public.
*  You'll have to check the hours of operation as some close in the early evening.
*  Even though it is religious historical sites, anyone is allowed to tour.
*  I was able to see everything, and then visit the town of Palmyra and the other historical sites in the area all in one day.  However, some choose to do it in a longer time.
* It's only a 30 minute drive from Rochester, NY and 2 hour drive to Niagara Falls.