Today I am going to focus my LDS vacation blog on Palmyra, NY. This is a really great place to visit. I visited about four years ago during the Hill Cumorah pageant, which was very well done. Palmyra is the place where Joseph Smith received the first vision. The Book of Mormon was buried in the Hill Cumorah, and there are various other sites to see. HillCumorah.org is a great site to help you plan your stay in Palmyra.
If you are planning on visiting Palmyra during the Hill Cumorah pageant, you will need to reserve your rooms ahead of time. In Palmyra there are several bed and breakfasts, and campgrounds. However there is just one inn, actually inside of Palmyra. There are plenty of places to stay, all within thirty miles of Palmyra. To find a listing of hotels available please click here.
There are several LDS sites to visit which include the Palmyra Visitor’s Center, the Palmyra temple, the Sacred Grove, the Joseph Smith farm (which includes a welcome center, the Sacred Grove, a log home, and a frame home that the Smiths lived in), the building where the Book of Mormon was first printed, the Martin Harris farm, and about an hour and a half away is the site where the Aaronic priesthood was restored.
We visited most of these sites in a day, and were still able to see the Hill Cumorah pageant. However, I feel that you could easily spend more time at each of the sites, and spend two or three days there. The temple does need reservations to attend. There are also several museums in Palmyra that is run by Historic Palmyra, Inc.
I still remember the special way that I felt when I walked through the Sacred Grove. My great aunt told me of her visit to the Sacred Grove years before they erected a visitor’s center. It is truly a holy place, and one that is worth your time to visit.
The church’s sites are set up at Palmyra so that you don’t feel as though you are in a huge crowd. I know that a lot of people were visiting Palmyra during the time we were there, since we did visit during the pageant. The guided tours of the buildings take place every ten to fifteen minutes, and move at a uniform rate, so that you don’t stumble all over each other.
If you are planning on staying awhile in upstate New York, you can drive to Niagara Falls for a day or two. The falls are just incredible, and Niagara is a fun little tourist town. Click here to find out more about Niagara.
Kirtland is a pretty easy drive (about four hours) from Palmyra, and you might want to consider visiting it on the same trip. This is especially true if you are not from the East. I will be talking more about Kirtland in my next blog.