Joseph Smith Homes

We also visited Joseph Smith's farm where he lived when he was young. You know how it says his father moved the family to a different county? Well, it must have been an inside joke, because the two houses are only about a block apart, with a county line in between. They have built this replica to be as close to the original as it can possibly be. Apparently they've won quite a few awards for it.

But the house they moved to is still the original. They've done some restoration, of course, but it is still the same house that the Smiths built and lived in.
And when you hear the stories about Joseph Smith taking up the bricks of the fire place and hiding the plates underneath? These are the same bricks, and we stood on them! It was so cool.

And from the Smith farm, you can see the Palmyra Temple. Apparently it is the only temple with a clear window in the Celestial Room so that you can look out on the Sacred Grove. (We didn't get to go in, so I can't tell you for sure.) The Hartleys (our new missionary friends from the little bitty branch) told us that when they visited there, Elder Harley commented that they must have trimmed the trees to make it so that you could see the sacred grove from the temple. You can see in the picture that otherwise all you would be able to see is the trees in front of the temple.
But the story goes that they were not allowed to trim any of the trees. However, for some strange reason, all the tall trees in front of the temple died. After they were dead, they were allowed to cut them down. And now you can see the temple from the Smith farm, and the temple can look out on the Sacred Grove.