Independence/Nauvoo

Many families and their friends will want to divide their visits to Church History sites into two separate tours. One tour is to Palmyra and Kirtland which gives one half of the story and the other tour would be to Independence and Nauvoo which presents the rest of the overview of the restoration.

These slides feature the tour one might take for the latter tour. Flights are plentiful into Kansas City, which is in easy driving distance from Independence. Indeed, Independence is a suburb of Kansas City.

A probable itinerary would have you first travel to the Liberty Jail in Liberty and then on over to Independence for a tour of the visitor's center and a stroll on Temple Lot. Following the visit to Independence, you would want to travel 45 minutes to Far West, where you would visit the grounds where the monument commemorating Section 119 of the Doctrine and Covenants is housed. Next a short trip over to Haun's Mill and then a drive through Gallatin to Adam-ondi-Ahman gives a great overview to the Independence period.

Following the visits to the aforementioned sites, the tour will proceed to Nauvoo, but will likely stop in Hannibal to take a step back into the Mark Twain era. Continuing North the tour will focus on Nauvoo. While staying at the Nauvoo Family Inn, the tour will likely included an overview of Nauvoo, a side trip to Carthage, Montrose, and Quincy. Not to be neglected will be a visit to the Nauvoo Burial grounds outside of Nauvoo, reportedly said by President Hinckley to be the second most sacred site in the United States next to the Sacred Grove in Palmyra, New York.

The Sacred Grove, Palmyra, New York

Our family friendly tour begins in Palmyra, New York where it all began on a beautiful spring morning in 1830. After flying into the Rochester Airport, you will be bused to the Marriott in Rochester to refresh and unpack. Then the motor coach will take you 30 minutes away to Palmyra with a first stop at the Sacred Grove, where it all began on a beautiful spring morning in 1830. You will have at least an hour of peaceful solitude in the grove as you begin your tour. Our next visit will be to the log cabin where Joseph saw the Angel Moroni. You will stand in the actual air space where this occurred. Following the visit to the cabin, you will visit the Smith Farmhouse, also on the same property as the Sacred Grove and the log cabin.

Our next stop will be the Palmyra Temple which overlooks the Sacred Grove through beautiful stained glass windows depicting the grove. We will continue on to the Grandin Bookstore where the Book of Mormon was printed, visit Alvin's grave and then see the Martin Harris home.

Following our stops in Palmyra we will stop at the Hill Cumorah on the way out of town. Here we will climb to the top of the Hill and see the statue of the Angel Moroni and visit the vistors center.

Our last stop in the Palmyra area will be the Whitmer farm in Fayette, New York. This is where the Book of Mormon was translated and also where the Church was organized on April 6, 1830.