Peter Whitmer Home & Visitors' Center

We were excited to be invited to the Mission Presidents Seminar for the North America Northeast Area Missions.  The conference started on October 27 but we left Bloomfield a little early to take in a few Church History Sites. 

The first place we stopped was the Peter Whitmer farm and Visitors' Center in Waterloo, New York.  It's not too far away from Palmyra, New York. The above picture shows the colonial-style Visitors' Center and chapel. It was built to look similar to what chapels would have looked like at the turn of the century. To the right of the building is a small old-fashioned home that's been divided into living quarters for a senior missionary couple and two sister missionary companionships.

Inside the Visitors' Center were many great displays.  This one features the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon, Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris and David Whitmer. David Whitmer is Peter Whitmer Sr.'s son.  The Whitmer family did much to further the early Church. Along with David, four of their other sons were part of the testimony of the Eight Witnesses of the Book of Mormon. They testified they saw and felt the golden plates.  Also Oliver Cowdery was married to one of the Whitmer's daughters.

The Whitmer family took in the Prophet Joseph Smith Jr. and his wife Emma for a period of time and allowed Joseph and Oliver Cowdery to work on the translation of the Book of Mormon in their home. Joseph also received revelations comprising 20 sections of the Doctrine and Covenants and some of the first priesthood ordinances were performed in or near the Whitmer home.

 

These stained glass murals depicted the First Vision and the Angel Moroni assisting Joseph Smith in receiving the gold plates the Book of Mormon were engraved on.

The Whitmer home is a reconstructed log cabin that's on the original site.  The church obtained wood that had been milled in the early 1800s to make the home as authentic as possible. Though the home is small in comparison to what we enjoy today, great things occurred on this very spot.

For us it felt peaceful and serene on the fall day we visited the site in the upper New York countryside.

Here's the master bedroom. Cozy, huh.

The kitchen/dining area is the main part of the cabin and was the gathering place.  This room holds significance because on this very spot on April 6, 1830, Joseph Smith and six others formally organized The Church of Jesus Christ.

Standing in this room, I couldn't help but think of Quaid and Isabel who will be baptized this month and how they are some of the newest members of the Church.  How significant that we would get the opportunity to stand in the very spot where it all started and how being members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have blessed our lives and changed the eternities. 

Our Heritage describes what took place: "Notices were sent to believers and friends, and some 56 men and women gathered at the log home of Peter Whitmer Sr. in Fayette, New York. Six men were chosen by the Prophet to assist in the organization 'agreeable to the laws of our country, by the will and commandments of God' (D&C 209:1).

The Prophet recorded: 'Having opened the meeting by solemn prayer to our Heavenly Father, we proceeded, according to previous commandment, to call on our brethren to know whether they accepted us as their teachers in the things of the Kingdom of God, and whether they were satisfied that we should proceed and be organized as a Church according to said commandment which we had received. To these several propositions they consented by unanimous vote.

With the consent of those present, Joseph ordained Oliver an elder of the Church and Oliver ordained the Prophet as elder as they had been directed by the Lord.  The sacrament was blessed and passed to the members present. Those who had been baptized said that 'the Holy Ghost was poured out upon us to a very great degree--some prophesied, whilst we all praised the Lord, and rejoiced exceedingly.' "

This is a re-creation of the upper bedroom where Joseph performed some of the translations of the Book of Mormon.

The story is told that Mary Whitmer was a gracious hostess but sometimes felt overwhelmed with the extra work and visitors besides her large family. She recounts how one day she was discouraged with the hub bub and walked outside away from the home. I'm not sure if she was praying or not but she was approached by a disguised heavenly messenger who showed her the golden plates. She felt it was a special gift for all she had done to assist the Prophet Joseph and his family.