Following the Saints to Kirtland

Ed and I stopped in Kirtland, Ohio today to visit some church history sites. It's been almost 30 years since we were last here, and they now have a really beautiful visitor's center, as well as many more restored buildings to tour.

The Newel K. Knight store is still my favorite. They have restored it to the period of the 1830s, and even had a register on the counter showing purchases by two of my ancestors—Edmund Durfee and Albert Miner. I love the reverent feeling of being in a building where so much revelation was received.

One of the new buildings was the ashery. Who knew that processing ashes was big business? Apparently, potash made from ashes was used for a multitude of things. There was also a sawmill, as well as the Johnson hotel and Whitney home to see. The story of the faithful lives of the Whitneys was awe inspiring.

The Community of Christ gave us a nice tour of the Kirtland Temple. We enjoyed sitting in the gardens where a local man stopped and told us that they appreciated the help the Mormon church gives them in landscaping and maintaining the gardens.

We visited the Isaac Morley farm. There isn't much left of it, but the history of the revelations revealed there is truly inspiring, including D&C 76.

Our last stop was the John Johnson farm, where the Prophet Joseph and his family when they experienced many more miracles as well as hardship. The Prophet was taken from this bedroom by a mob and tarred and feathered. 

The home is spacious and beautiful, with a fireplace in every room. It made you wish you had been born 200 years ago!

And look who we ran into tonight! Amanda and Nolan! They had spent the day in Nauvoo, Illinois, touring church history sites there. It was fun comparing notes with them. We met them in Indianapolis and are looking forward to going to the Indianapolis temple open house tomorrow morning together,