Visitors’ Center Planned Near Sacred Grove

The First Presidency has announced the restoration and improvement of the Joseph Smith Farm, the Church historical site near Palmyra, New York, that includes the Sacred Grove. The project involves a new visitors’ center, an authentic reconstruction of the Smith family log home, and realignment and restoration of the road that ran through the property in 1820. Work will be done on the property’s existing frame home built by the Smiths before they moved from the area to Ohio, and restoration efforts will include a barn and cooper’s shop, an apple orchard, farm fields, a streambed, and a marsh area. New and updated visitors’ amenities will include walking paths, interpretive signs, and rest rooms.

The purpose of the restoration project, Church leaders said, is to inspire and strengthen Latter-day Saints and help visitors understand and appreciate the Prophet Joseph Smith’s divine calling and his experiences that led to the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the organization of the Lord’s Church.

Illustration of the expansion of Church facilities at the Joseph Smith Sr. Farm near Palmyra, New York. (Map by Thomas S. Child.)