Kirtland, Ohio

Day One of our (just Joseph and me) trip was spent flying. We flew from Reno to Salt Lake to Cincinnati to Cleveland. It was a long day but not to bad. From Cleveland we rented a car and drove to Mentor, Ohio to spend the night.

Day Two - Kirtland, Ohio

The weather during our trip was cold, overcast, and rainy, but we didn't mind too much. That just meant there really weren't very many other sightseers. There was a tour group from England here. We also met an older couple who were driving out to their mission in Gloversville, NY. We later saw them all in Palmyra.

We first stopped to walk through the Kirtland cemetery. We found several different graves of early church members including Mary Duty Smith, Joseph Smith Sr.'s mother.

The view of the Kirtland Temple from the cemetery.




The Kirtland Temple.



We then took the tour of the heart of old Kirtland. Newel K. Whitney owned the ashery (on the left). He'd buy ashes from farmers who had burned their fields or cleared timber for land. Then he'd make potash and pearl ash, most of which was sent to England. The sawmill is on the right. The saints used this to make the boards needed for building the temple.
I totally forgot about getting a picture of the front of Newel K. Whitney's store, house, and the other buildings that were all on the block. Oops! The store has much of the original floors, walls, etc. This is one side of the Whitney store. Newel K. was standing to the right of the display case on the counter when Joseph Smith entered the store, grabbed Newel K's hand and stated, "Newel K. Whitney thou art the man!" Newel K was shocked. He confessed to not knowing the stranger. Joseph responded, "I am Joseph the Prophet. You've prayed me here now what do you want of me?" The Whitneys and Smiths became very close friends.


I want to make one of these some day.

A replica of the post office that was also located in the Whitney store.

Upstairs are the following rooms. This was the administrative headquarters of the church for a time. It also served as Joseph's translating room when he worked on his translation of the Bible. He also received many revelations here such as Doctrine and Covenants 84 (on priesthood), 85, 86, 87 (on war), 88, 89 (the Word of Wisdom), 90-98, and 101.


This is one view of the School of the Prophets room. This was a missionary training room of sorts. Here the brethren learned the doctrines of the kingdom and experienced many spiritual events.


Another view of the School of the Prophets room.

We also took a tour of the Kirtland Temple which is now owned my the Community of Christ Church, formerly the RLDS Church. They didn't allow pictures of the inside but it was amazing! The saints were truly led in how to build with what was available to them.

From Kirtland we drove south to Hiram, Ohio to visit the John Johnson Farm. This is where Joseph and Emma stayed after their twins died three hours after they were born. Joseph and Emma then adopted twins from John Murdock whose wife had died in childbirth.

They were here in this bedroom when a mob came in the middle of the night, dragging Joseph out into the cold, across the street and into a field where they tarred and feathered him, taunting him saying he would not preach again. Joseph preached a sermon the very next day. One of the twins later died from the exposure to the cold that occurred because of the mob.

This room was set a side for Joseph to continue working on his translation of the Bible. Because Joseph and Emma stayed here for about a year many significant historical events occurred here, including 16 revelations that became sections 1, 65, 67, 68, 69, 71, 73, 74, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 99, 133 of the Doctrine and Covenants.

I just had to show you the gravestone of Symonds Ryder. He left the church because Joseph misspelled his name in a revelation. He was one of the leaders of the mob that tarred and feathered Joseph. Do you notice any misspellings on his headstone?


I wonder what he thinks now that disciple is spelled wrong on his headstone. We just thought it was rather ironic. The cemetery where this is located is off the beaten path. Most people don't even know that it's there. We found it thanks to a wonderful book my parents sent out for us to use in our travels. Sacred Places is a series of travel books published by Deseret Book. The books are filled with wonderful little sites you normally wouldn't think of going to see.

Stayed tuned for day three later on this week.