JWHA is proud to offer three tours of 19th century Rochester Restoration and American History sites. Join us as we visit scenic western New York, home of the Burned Over District. Register now to reserve your seat.
Tour #1
Palmyra Historic Sites.
Book of Mormon Publication Site, Smith Family Palmyra Sites, and Smith Family Farm. $62 per person which includes a box lunch.
Tour Guides: Mark Staker and Kyle Walker
Mark Staker, Master Curator for the LDS Church Historic Sites Division, and Kyle Walker, BYUI Professor, will take us to five original Restoration History sites, explaining the latest archaeological and material culture findings presented in their historical context. Mark is author of Hearken, O Ye People, The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith’s Ohio Revelations. Kyle is the author of William Smith: In the Shadow of a Prophet.
Tour #2
Tour of the Susan B. Anthony Home, followed by a Guided Boat Tour on the Erie Canal.
We will begin at the Susan B. Anthony Museum & House in Rochester, site of her arrest for voting in 1872. We will see the famous black silk brocade dress, the fabric a gift from Utah women to Susan B. Anthony to thank her for helping secure their right to vote. We will visit the Mount Hope Cemetery, burial site of Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass. We will conclude our day by journeying on the Erie Canal, riding in a replica of the 19th century canal packet boat, going through Lock #32. $62 per person which includes a box lunch.
Tour Guides: Kelly McAfee, Bill and Lois Russell
Kelly, Co-Chair of the JWHA Rochester Conference, is a teacher at the Hebrew Academy of Cleveland. She is a volunteer tour guide at the Kirtland Temple, as well as an artist and writer. Bill and Lois Russell have been JWHA supporters for many years. Bill is professor emeritus of American history and politics at Graceland University, having published extensively. He is past present of both JWHA and MHA.
Tour #3
Mendon and Palmyra Restoration History sites.
Including Tomlinson Inn, Tomlinson’s Corners Cemetery and the John Young home. We will conclude at the Book of Mormon Publication Site. $62 per person which includes a box lunch.
Tomlinson Inn is the site where Samuel Smith left two copies of the Book of Mormon with Phineas Young and his sister, Rhoda. The books were circulated within the John Young family, the Heber C. Kimball family, and the Greene family. The Inn would serve as the location of the early Mendon Branch with 50+ members, including Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Mary Wilcox of the Reorganization. Mary’s children would later join the Reorganization and the Latter-day Saint movement. The nearby Tomlinson’s Corners Cemetery is the burial site of Brigham Young’s first wife, Miriam Works Young. The John Young Home and surrounding property contains Brigham’s workshop and mill stream, site of his baptism. We will conclude at the Book of Mormon Publication Site.
Tour Guides: Jared Cook and Robert Cook
Jared Cook has a lifelong interest in the early Restoration history of western New York. He blogs on Mormon-related topics on By Common Consent. Jared is a lawyer, focused on litigation in the areas of construction law, employment law, and civil rights with an emphasis on religious freedom. Robert Cook is retired from a career working and teaching in computer science disciples as well as patent law. His interest in church and family history took him to Nauvoo, where he is the Mission Center President of the Community of Christ, Cedar Valley Nauvoo Mission Center.
