Priesthood Restoration Site

Guided tours of the Priesthood Restoration Site begin at the visitor center. Missionaries lead the tours, which include a 28-minute video and visits inside the two homes at this location. There are also interactive exhibits inside the visitors center.

A path from the visitor center leads into a grove of maple trees. On May 15, 1829, Joseph Smith and his scribe Oliver Cowdery went to a secluded place near this area to pray. They felt a need to learn about the authority to baptize, a subject they had read about as they worked on the translation of the Book of Mormon. God answered their prayer by sending an angelic messenger John the Baptist, the prophet who had baptized Jesus Christ about 1,800 years earlier. Joseph and Oliver knelt before John, and he placed his hands on their heads. He conferred on them the Aaronic Priesthood, restoring the ancient authority to baptize.

The path also leads to a part of the larger forest that included Joseph and Emma Smiths stand of maple trees, a Sugar Bush as the locals called it. Joseph sometimes used their sugar bush as a hiding place for the gold plates from which he translated the Book of Mormon.

After living with Emmas parents briefly, Joseph and Emma Smith moved onto this 13.5-acre farm, which they later purchased from Emmas father. The narrow piece of property extended from the Susquehanna River to the foothills of Oquago Mountain. It included a barn and a house that Emmas brother Jesse had built. This home became a place of revelation. Here Joseph continued to translate the Book of Mormon by the power of God, assisted by Emma, Oliver Cowdery, and a few other scribes. While living here, Joseph received several revelations that are now recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants. Joseph and Emmas first child, a son, was born here on June 15, 1828. He died the same day and was buried in the nearby McKune Cemetery. The home burned down in 1919. A reconstructed home is built in its original location. It is open for guided tours, which begin at the visitors center.

In 1790, Isaac and Elizabeth Hale settled in Harmony, Pennsylvania, where Isaac had bought a 150-acre farm with a small log home. Eight of their nine children were born in that home. Around 1810, Isaac and his family moved the log home off its foundation and built a two-story home in its place. In 1825, Joseph Smith lodged in the old log home while working in the area and met Isaac and Elizabeths daughter Emma. When Emma and Joseph were married in 1827, they first lived with Josephs family in upstate New York. Less than a year later, they lived briefly with Emmas parents in their home. Here Joseph began his work with the translation of the Book of Mormon, copying characters from the golden plates. The home has been reconstructed in its original location. It is open for guided tours, which begin at the visitor center.

In 1960, Avard Fairbanks completed this monument to commemorate the restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood. More than 60,000 Aaronic Priesthood holders and their leaders made contributions to cover the entire cost of the monument. Their names are sealed in a box inside the monument.

Today the Susquehanna River is quiet. On its bank, visitors can contemplate the first baptisms in this dispensation. In the spring of 1829, though, the Susquehanna River bustled with activity, carrying hundreds of boats and rafts each week. Boatmen transported lumber and other goods around this bend of the river, on their way to markets as far south as Philadelphia. The river also powered sawmills, including one across the river owned by Emma Smiths brothers Jesse and Ward Hale. After John the Baptist conferred the Aaronic Priesthood on Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, he commanded them to go and be baptized. (Joseph Smith�History 1:70). They baptized each other that same day, probably waiting to perform the ordinance after boatmen had docked their vessels for the evening. Joseph baptized Oliver first, and then Oliver baptized Joseph.

In June 1828, Joseph and Emma buried their first child, a son who died the day he was born, in this cemetery. His grave marker is now encased to protect it from decay. Isaac and Elizabeth Hale and a few other Hale relatives are buried close by, in the northeast corner of the cemetery. Isaac was initially buried on the Hale property, but his remains were later moved because of concern that the incoming railroad would disturb the grave. The cemetery is named for the McKune family, who once owned the land. It is open to the public.