The Sacred Grove
Scenes from TheFirstVision.com Series

(Please see additional pictures and information below.)

"When the light had departed, I had no strength; but soon recovering in some
degree, I went home."   --Joseph Smith History 1:20
The large Sugar Maple tree in the foreground is believed to be older than the original cabin. About 15 acres on the west end of the Smith's 100-acre farm was left as forest. This is the location of the current 10-acre Sacred Grove. The area included a great many large Sugar Maple trees. The Smiths tapped about 1,500 maple trees each season to produce an average of 1,000 pounds of sugar; and most of those maple trees grew in this grove.

Smith Family Log Cabin: This recreation of the Smith family cabin stands on the same location as the original. On a Spring morning in 1820, Joseph Smith, Jr. returned to this cabin after having experienced a heavenly vision of the Father and the Son (often referred to as "The First Vision"). The vision took place in the wooded area behind the cabin (known today as the "Sacred Grove"). Three years later, in an upstair bedroom, Joseph was visited by the Angel Moroni.

MORE LOG HOME HISTORY: In 1818 or 1819 Joseph Smith Sr., his wife, Lucy Mack Smith, and their eight children moved from Palmyra village to Stafford Road just north of the 100 acres they planned to acquire. They built a log home and outbuildings on this site where they resided for approximately seven years.

See cropped enlargement below, or click for a printer-ready PDF image document.

In late 1825 they moved a few hundred feet south to their new frame home. Their son Hyrum had arranged to purchase the eighty acres of land surrounding the log home. Following his marriage to Jerusha Barden, in November of 1826, Hyrum and his wife resided in the log home.

In the Spring of 1829, Father and Mother Smith and their younger children returned to the log home where they lived with Hyrum's family until the fall of 1830. (For additional information on the Smith Farm, go to our Maps and Resources page.)

"We were able to settle ourselves upon our own land [in] a snug, comfortable, though humble habitation built and neatly furnished by our own industry....Again we began to rejoice in our prosperity, and our hearts glowed with gratitude to God for the manifestations of his favor that surrounded us." -- Lucy Mack Smith




Please bookmark the home page and come back to view additional images. Photography by Royce Bair, from TheFirstVision.com series. © The Stock Solution, Inc. 2004 - 2009, All Rights Reserved. Please do not make any redistribution of our images without written permission from Royce Bair. Call 1-801-566-8684 or email orida70@gmail.com with comments or questions.