9-Arpil-2023-Sunday-Easter Sunday
I thought I would start the week with pictures. Dede and I celebrating Easter Sunday at the site. Crocuses announce Spring and Easter at the monument and finally today I took the first load of passengers (followed up with the second load) down to foundations, another sign of Spring, which happened on this great day.
We drove to Rutland for their special Sacrament Meeting and they did not disappoint. When we walked in the chapel, the seats were arranged facing toward the middle of the chapel with an aisle down the middle. During the program which was narrated by the youth, they spoke about symbols of of Easter which sat on the back table in their talks. Thus the audience could see the speakers and the symbols at the same time. The youth used a script to insure it stayed on time and did well. Technically they probably pushed the limits using the symbols in a Sacrament Meeting, but it added power to the presentation and I enjoyed it. This lasted until 10:45 and then they opened the door to the overflow room where round tables and chairs were set up. There were tables of food and the youth continued talking about symbolic food and the resurrection using the food displayed and then people were allowed to eat. Dede and I had to leave as we wanted to be early at the site, but again it was incredible. Not that I am suggesting this for a Sacrament Meeting, but it was powerful and worked so well for a smaller Branch.
We grabbed a few pieces of bread and were at the site by 12:15 for our 1 pm shift. It was good because we had two families come in before 1 pm. We had 24 people come into the site and 2 others walk around the site. Everyone we talked to were members and we had numerous families which was awesome. It was fun to testify of Joseph Smith, but to add special emphasis about Christ on Easter Sunday. This was the first day without wind in about a week and with temperatures hovering near 50F, it was so pleasant. There was one point where I had three families in the first room (all having started at different times) with about 16 people. Dede had taken a group of 2 BYU-I professors in the next room and they had many questions and Dede was having a great time until, I opened the doors and kicked them out so we could proceed with the tour. These are the fun days. I think we have had more people in the first 9 days of April than we had in January. It might slow down again as spring break ends, but hopefully we can avoid having days without anyone attending.
At one point, I had 7 young people from two different families at the restoration board. All did a great job identifying favorite stories about Joseph Smith and teaching one another and their parents. Earlier we had 6 youth and 3 adults from two families and were able to have all participate at the board. It is interesting to watch when we mix groups how church members reach out and welcome one another so that all feel at home. I was telling the first group (mom and 5 kids, two sets of twins) about the foundations. I told Dede if we could get the golf cart running I wanted to take them down, so we took them and another family in the first trip. Later I would take another family. We had two young men about 18 yearswho are preparing for missions and came with their families in part to prepare for their missions.
Finally at 4:30 it slowed down and Dede shared with me church videos about Easter morning. What a way to end the shift. On the way home we listened to Easter type music which helped set the spirit. Finally at home after delicious left-overs Dede gave her final Holy Week presentation. She has done a masterful job preparing and presenting about the Savior. Along with Podcasts we have listened to, Kerry Muhlestein in particular had something each day of the week, This week became special as we studied the life of Christ each day of the week. Dede could have spent hours each day with here presentations, but kept it to 30 minutes as she knew she was teaching a person (me) with a short attention span. I love her and appreciate all that she does for me and for her preparing for this special week. God bless her and I hope others shared a similar positive week. The tomb was empty. The Lord is risen. We will all be resurrected. We can all obtain eternal life through the ordinances and covenants of the God and through His atoning sacrifice for all mankind.
10-April-2023-Monday
We met together for prayer meeting. At least a few of us. We were missing a couple who are sick and another person was at the doctor with a third couple back in Utah for family issues. Still we had a good meeting and all expressed gratitude for being here.
I took Dede home and then returned to make measurements around the site. The snow if finally melting. It is not easy to get around, but possible and I can identify things I need to identify. What a blessing. Still it is very time consuming to make measurements and notes. It is not easy for me to comprehend what I am seeing and how it all fits together, but it is slowly coming together. It really helps when I write down what I have seen and need to make sure it makes sense.
We had 14 people during our shift and Buswells had 6. We had a large multi-generational family of 12, which inflated out numbers. All I can say is this is so different than January. We are already well ahead of all the people we had in January and I am glad.
Our last couple sat at the monument for some time. Dede waited for them so they could use the bathrooms and I walked down the hill, almost making it all the way down Dairy Hill Road. I see things walking that I miss in the car and I was glad to walk and get in my steps.
Dede picked me up and we drove into Lebanon where we ate dinner and then bought some Easter candy that was 50% off. We finished the day by driving to Quechee to wash the car. What a romantic ending to a great day.
11-April-2023-Tuesday
Today we worked the full day as the Ewers are still in Utah and Buswells have the PDAY. We did not have 20 people like last week on Tuesday, but we enjoyed the three people we had. The first person wanted a short tour as he had people waiting for him in the car. The second couple had been here before and so did not want a normal tour, but spent time at the monument and then asked questions. They had not been below to the foundations, so I took them there. The snow is melting quickly and it is much easier to see now than before. The foundation is covered with snow, but the rocks are visible.
I spent a great deal of time walking and making measurements and taking pictures. After walking and digesting information and trying to map it, it is good to return to the maps and see how it all fits together. I found the Royalton-Sharon Town line. It is marked with a marker and then one can see three older trees behind the mark which verifies its location. It is interesting the differences in this line seen over time. In the latest maps, the monument is shown as in Royalton. In 1905, the line passed 4 feet east of the home, but the monument was in Sharon. On the map in the visitors center, the line goes through the home. Hurray for GPS in surveying.
I walked the western boundary. Once the boundary crosses LDS lane, I do not see any evidence of the property line. Since the church bought land west of this line, it would make sense that this border line was not important to the farm and thus it can no longer be found.
Heading north along the border I came to a rock wall we had found earlier and measured it and got a direction. This is found on maps, but I find the length is often misleading. I then headed north east from that wall and walked right to the corner walls I was hoping to find. I believe this marks the northwest property line of the Mack farm. The north-western wall is about 123 feet long. Substantial but not amazing. The church property line is about 200 feet beyond this this wall. I did not go to it, but could see the markers.
The east-south wall is more impressive as it stretches 473 feet, all the way to White Brook. There are two holes in the wall which supported old gator-trails. This is about 23% of the length of the property line. It is easy to see from the Old Sharon Road which is across White Brook and will make it easy to find the rest of the boundary (if anything still exists.). The southern boundary is easier to find, so if all my assumptions are right, I am very close to understanding the Mack Farm having walked its boundaries. My next move is to go to the Sharon town offices and see if they have a lot descriptions that tells me how long one of the boundary lines was determined to be. Then I will know the other dimensions. I am a nerd, but I find this fun. Spring flowers followed by rock walls.
12-April-2023-Wednesday PDAY
Full disclosure, I am writing this Thursday evening as we did not get back in time to write Wednesday night.
We left for Montreal about 8:15 am. The Boston Temple is closed and we have wanted to attend a session in the Montreal Temple. It is the furthest of the three temples from us about 2:55 from our apartment without traffic. By leaving early we could visit places in Montreal. Couple of items. Montreal is a French speaking city although one can get by nicely without knowing French. It is a large and modern city. It was started on Islands in the St. Lawrence River. This must have made defense easier, although it invited sailing ships to come in and bomb it. It was very Catholic. Probably very anti-British for a long time, although I think they got along with the USA. Finally it is very old. It is so hard to think of dates in the 1600's for North America.
Dede had a great day planned and she was a superb navigator. Both are highly desirable for an old man who likes to feel like he has some control over his life and does not particularly like finding a parking spot. Getting to a place is doable, but sometimes finding a parking spot is less than desirable, even if one can parallel park fairly well. We started by eating lunch at Schwartz Diner, known for smoked meats in a city known for smoked meats. It is a small hole in the wall and because we were there in the off season, we found a parking spot nearby on the street. I owe Dede an apology for not getting a photo that shows her looking interested but you can see their famous smoked sandwich and the black cherry soda that seemed to be a local favorite. The fries (frites, just like Belgium) were also good and they got us in an out as they had limited sitting space and wanted to serve as many people as possible.
We next went to the Saint Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal a newish Basilica built on Mount Royal so that it overlooks much of the city. It is definitely set up to handle large crowds. We were able to park close by and did not need to climb the stairs although a shuttle was available. We wandered for some time. The pipe organ was huge, but I thought it looked like it was haphazard in the presentation of the pipes. (That was a disappointment. Not everyone takes pictures of the organ.). You could definitely seat a lot of people. There was a small chapel near the parking lot, that I really liked. I would recommend this for people visiting Montreal for the views. But also for the stature out front showing people of many nations coming to Canada. In the middle one sees angel wings with the thought that often people have entertained angels unaware. See pictures below. I did not feel pressured to provide money.
We then went to old town and parked near the the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal. The Catholic Church is righty proud of this oldest Basilica in North America. We had hoped they were still giving tours, but they had enough signage that one felt like all was not lost. There was so much to see so I will focus on the high alter and the side speaking stand. The high alter was set up to bring the worshipper to think of the Eucharist (Sacrament of Communion). It was huge and had so much to ponder. My favorite pieces were from the Old Testament. I was not surprised to see the Law Giver Moses, nor Aaron sacrificing a lamb or even Abraham sacrificing Isaac. But I was very surprised to see Melchezidek making an offering of bread and wine in similitude of the Sacrament. This was impressive. Then on the preaching stand, the name Jehovah in Hebrew letters was emblazoned on the sound board above the preacher. See picture below. 1) Altar from the back, 2) Jesus crowning Mary, 3) Melchizedek offering bread and wine.
This shows side pulpit with Jehovah written in Hebrew on sound board above. There was so much art. Surprisingly a number of stain-glass windows portrayed the history of Montreal as told by the leading people of the city. Again no picture, but this pipe organ looked much better in this basilica.
This was my favorite church. A few blocks from the Basilica it is the church of the sailors. Much more simple and very laid back inside. We felt like leaving a donation at this church.
We found our hotel and then did what we came to do an endowment session (7:30 is on the only session on Wednesday at the Montreal Temple.) We were split 50-50 between French and English speakers, but most French speakers were comfortable with English so 3 headsets were given out to the the three who did not speak English. We had a hotel 6 miles away and I was glad we spent the night as I was exhausted from driving and walking. The temple is beautiful and uses maple leaves in their motif.
13-April-2023-Thursday.
We left about 8:30 and Google Maps was taking us a different way home where we could go through the Champlain Islands (called Hero Islands) in VT. Before crossing the border, and on a back country road (love Google Maps) we came across a truck that was stuck on a corner and we could not get around. We turned around and ended up going through small towns until we came to a border crossing that I am guess is rarely used. The border people looked at us strangely wondering why we had chosen to come here, when we said we were going to Sharon VT and had Idaho plates. Nice to have passports. We got through and probably were the highlight of the two guards in this remote place. We did pass by Lake Champlain, but missed the Islands. Too late to try to hit them and get home to the site.
We came home ate, I slept 15 minutes and we were at the site. We immediately had the sweetest family come in. They are from Brazil and he is getting an MBA in Connecticut. He has a job lined up with Amazon and will move to Utah after graduation. Two boys, 7 and 3 who were wonderfully behaved and so well taught. The young boy was bilingual and could amazingly answer our questions even though the parents spoke to him in Portuguese. Took them down to the foundations. It was 75 degrees and the snow is almost gone. Hard to comprehend that we went from over a foot of snow to nothing is such a short time.
I simply had to do it. At the end of the shift, I loaded my gear and headed down toward the foundations, determined to walk out the Old Sharon road. I took measurements of rock walls on the property and came to the end of our property and the end of rock walls. From there I started cross country trying to stay on course with my compass as the road seems to be almost straight on the maps. After thinking I was surely going to still be walking in the dark, I stumbled upon a set of rock walls (i.e. the Old Sharon Road) heading exactly in their correct direction. I made better progress and came out at the top of Town Farm Road. I want to walk this backwards some time and see how far the rock walls take me back toward the property. But I feel such great success. I find rock walls all the way to the Town Farm Road. It is where it should be so I can map it. I will be able to add missing information to the maps as desired and put this all in my review. What a great day. Luckily Dede loves me and picked me up so I did not need to walk home as it would have been a 3 miles. I also took a picture of a home, which from what I have read would have been a school when the Smiths lived in Sharon.
Pictures above: 1). Rock walls along road where I came out. 2). Rock walls on property. These are massive in a height, but probably not on Mack Farm, but still on church property. 3). Home I believe was a school house at the time of birth and where Joseph Sr may have taught, although there is a closer candidate at the bottom of LDS lane.
14-April-2023-Friday
We had the early shift today. It was such a gorgeous day, reaching 80 degrees. It is so difficult to remember that last week everything was covered in snow and this week, it is so hot, it is hard just to work and not be out hiking. We had a very nice couple from NY come into the site near the end of our shift. They had friends who were members while they were in the military and decided to stop when they saw the sign on the freeway. Dede did such a great job giving them a tour and I helped toward the end as I had been out exploring again.
It being slow, Bob offered to show me a few things. In the records, I had seen a note about springs at the edge of the property. I mentioned this to Bob saying they were near the stone wall and he said, let me take you there on the gator, so I changed shoes and off we went. When we got close we had to stop because it was so marshy and I realized, I have been in this area. There is a stone "house" or pump house in the area, but what I had not seen was the springs which were contained by ceramic "pipes". From one spring, Bob showed me a galvanized pipe which runs towards the pump house. Note, this pipe was buried, but exposed where a streamlet cut through the area so visible above ground. In all he showed me four such springs. Apparently the water was gathered to the pump house and from there it could be piped down to the site. I believe this is the second water location purchased by Junius Well in 1905 to provide drinking water to the site. It is within the property boundaries today, but would have been outside of the first 65 acres purchased. He then took me back to a spring he had found that appears to be unrelated, and is rocked lined and probably served a home although we could find no indication of a cellar. There are however many grape vines in the area suggesting habitation. This second spring is within 100 yards of the other springs and just over a small hill. It appears that if there was a house here, it would have been across a property line as the flat place for a home is on one side of the property line with the spring on the other. But who knows who owned what at the time. This trip with Bob really helped me grasp the area better. When I arrived at the spring, I realized I had walked this area last fall when I came up Patriarch Trail and followed the property line (former property line before last addition) out to the old road which marks the current property line. I was better able to align myself. I tend to lose my sense of direction among all the trees. It is easy now without leaves, but almost bewildering with all the leaves and no landmarks. Not that I do not know where to go to get out, but I get twisted on true directions, so I now carry a compass with me at all times. With Bob there I could ask directions to known objects and locate myself in relationship to them. It is clear to me now, that I have felt everything was further apart than it actually is. However we own only 415 acres or so and so things are much closer together. I found that out walking out last night also. Some pictures of the springs, both those with ceramic pipe lining as well as the rock lining, the galvanized pipe. I did not take a picture of the pump house building. I will need to return and better document the wall both length and direction. Galvanized pipe. Ceramic pipe around the spring. Rock line spring.
Bob warned me if I am writing a book not to get him in trouble, I told him I would not publish, but planned to give a copy to Aaron West (Church Historian) as I want to document items for those who care about the site, not to write a book to sale. He seemed relieved. I think he is impressed that I want to know all I can about the site, but he has his job and he does not need unnecessary controversy. I do not blame him.
16-April-2023-Saturday
I lack focus in my life. I stayed home while Dede went to the store etc. Supposedly I was working on my review, but did not stay as focused as I could have although I made good progress. I finally decided to take a walk. We have had the three most beautiful days. Less than 1/2 a mile from our home is Faye Brook. I put in pictures of the waterfall that come out of the mill pond last week. Today I walked to the neighbors on the other side of the brook and asked permission to cross their land to take pictures. They were kind and the site was awe inspiring when standing at the base of the falls and taking in the power and looking at the beautiful rock work that was done to create the dam and spill ways. I took lots of pictures and will share a few with explanation.
In the first three pictures, you can see the falls, the middle pictures shows the dry rock used to make the dam on the left side and the third shows the dry rock on the left. Dry rock is laying stone without concrete and having it remain in place. (This is definitely an art.). The fourth picture shows the falls with the dry rock wall to the left. I find this amazing.
The pictures above show the foundation of the mill. The first gives one an idea of the wall as it now stands, the second picture has blue arrows pointing to the metal rods with belt wheels. These would have run from a turbine and powered the mill. The third shows the exist for the run, (like a tunnel) it is circled in blue. This was an older run, later they put in a pipe to move water through the mill. The fourth picture (below) shows a close up of this foundation and a run of water in front of the mill. I would guess there were more mills as this is a large falls and could have supported multiple mills
We had a great day at the site. After arriving we had a wonderful couple come in who have come out to Palmyra for their fourth mission. They will serve 6 months at the temple. We thought that was going to be all the people we would have, but we had 17 people come in after 4:45 (we left after 6). We had several families. One family of 8 arrived at 4:50 and asked Dede what we could do. They were so kind and Dede learned so much from them. They were supporting a family member who will run the Boston Marathon on Monday. She gave them a full tour. I was however working with a man and his daughter. He goes to S. Jordan UT twice a month and has many member friends and I think he wanted to learn more without pressure. His daughter (maybe 15) had great questions. They live in the North End of Boston not far from the North Church. She took home a BoM. I had two young men come in whom I took on tour who had seen the sign on the road and wanted the 10 minute tour which I gave them. I had seen another car coming up and so I went back up as they were coming back from the monument. One said he had a question and wanted to know what I thought about the Broadway Play "Book of Mormon." I responded that I thought it was great advertisement for the church. I did not agree with the portrayal of the church in the play, but thought the church was so smart to advertise all over the city "You have seen the Play, now read the Book. They agreed and wanted to know if I could give them each a Book of Mormon. Obviously I could do that. [The other day we gave out a BoM to a lady who was so excited. She wanted a BoM, but was told it could only be obtained one if a missionary brought it to her. I am glad, I am not so restricted, as this is as close as I will get to help flood the earth with the BoM.]. It was a wonderful day.
With the heavy water flowing, we had hoped to get to High City Falls, but were blocked by bad roads and thus did not make it. Thus ends another wonderful week of blessing from our Heavenly Father.
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