The Sacred Grove - Joseph Smith Farm

A forested 10-acre area on the western boundaries of the Smith farm has been referred to as the Sacred Grove since 1906. When the Smith family moved to this 100-acre property in 1818, the land was covered in forest. By the spring of 1820, the family had cleared 30 acres for farming, but they left large areas of productive woodlands on both the eastern and western sides of the farm. The appearance of God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, to the Prophet Joseph Smith took place in this grove. Today this carefully preserved forest fills many more acres. Walking paths through the trees provide visitors a reverent place for quiet contemplation.

Situated next to the parking area, the welcome center allows visitors to meet missionaries who lead tours through the Smith family farm. While waiting for a tour, visitors view the Smith farm and its surroundings including the log home, Crooked Creek, orchards, fields, meadows, fences, and the Sacred Grove.

In the winter of 1818 to 1819, the 10 members of the Smith family moved into a small log home on the edge of their new farm. Here the Smiths lived, worked, read the scriptures, and prayed. It was here in the crowded sleeping quarters of the Smith boys upstairs room that the angel Moroni first visited Joseph in the late hours of the night in September 1823. Although the original log home no longer exists, archaeological excavations revealed its location as well as 2,000 artifacts dated to the time the Smith family lived in the home. Applying the same methods, materials, and tools used in the construction of the original, an authentic recreation of the log home now stands on the original location.

In 1825, Joseph Smith Sr. moved his family into a larger farmhouse on their 100-acre farm, a few hundred feet south of the earlier log home. The well-framed home was the setting for several important events relating to the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. While living here, the family gathered to listen to Joseph share things he had learned from the angel Moroni about the ancient inhabitants of the Americas. When he obtained the golden plates in 1827, Joseph hid them in several places in and around the home. It was also here that Joseph Smith learned that Martin Harris had lost the first portion of the Book of Mormon manuscript. The Smiths frame home still stands on its original foundation. A restoration project in 1998 returned the home to its 1820s appearance. At the time of the project, it was discovered that 85 percent of the building materials had survived from Joseph Smiths time to ours.

Joseph Smith Sr. learned from his father the careful and demanding skill of coopering making watertight wooden barrels and buckets. These containers were important tools for harvesting maple sap and producing maple sugar. On their New York farm, the Smiths built a cooper shop to house the tools and materials they needed to make barrels, baskets, and light furniture, both for their own use and to sell to or repair for neighbors. On at least one occasion, Joseph Smith protected the golden plates by hiding them in the cooper shop. Today the original location of the cooper shop is unknown, but an accurate reproduction was placed across Stafford Road from the home, in keeping with Lucy Mack Smiths account of the familys farm life.

The threshing barn played an important role in the Smiths survival on the American frontier. During inclement weather, the barn provided a dry place to store harvested grains and hay for their animals. It also included an open wooden floor for the threshing, or loosening, of grain from the stalks during the winter months. Harnesses and tools were also stored in the barn. For convenient access to both the home and the fields, the Smiths constructed the barn near the center of their property. Although the Smiths barn no longer exists, archaeological excavations revealed its location. During the restoration of the Smith farm, a historic barn of the same period and style that once belonged to Brigham Youngs father was renovated and relocated from Mendon, New York, to the original Smith barn site.

Joseph Smith Farm and The Sacred Grove