Independence, MO was one of the headquarters for the church back when the saints were there. This place was prophesied to be Zion in Section 57 in Doctrine & Covenants. That being said , there were a ton of church history sites to see in and around Independence. We decided to see all of the sites outside of Independence on our first day there. We traveled to Liberty, Far West, Adam-ondi-ahman and all of the sites around these places.
We began our day at the Liberty Jail.
This was definitely a special place. The original jail is not there but the church has built a to-scale replica of the jail and then built a visitor center over top of it. It was pretty cool to see. As we listened to the missionaries talk about what went on in this jail while Joseph Smith was imprisoned here, we definitely gained a greater appreciation for the sacrifices and trials this prophet had to endure.
The Liberty Jail is sometimes referred to as the temple prison because many revelations were received here. These revelations are recorded in D&C sections 121-123. These revelations were given during a really hard time for the Saints. Joseph, Hyrum, Sidney Rigdon and others were in this horrible jail. They were treated very poorly, given poisoned food, and no warm blankets to keep out the cold. They were in this jail for 4 months during the cold winter and had no source of heat or anything. The thick stone walls provided no warmth and really acted as an icebox. Not only that but the room was so small that the men could not even stand up straight. To top it off, the Saints were being persecuted on every side by the Missourians. Their homes and farms were being burned and pillaged and they were being abused and killed and everything. When Joseph heard about this, he cried to the Lord "O God, where art thou?" And as an answer to his plea he was given section 121-123 of the Doctrine & Covenants. The Lord comforts Joseph during this hard time by telling him "My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes." (D&C 121:7-8). What an amazing blessing and comfort. I am so glad Joseph received this revelation because when I was diagnosed with cancer last year, this scripture really hit me and gave me the strength and comfort I needed to put my trust in the Lord and make it through that hard time in my life.
Liberty Jail was a very spiritual experience for us and, like Carthage, a very sobering one as well.
As we left Liberty Jail, we left with a greater appreciation for Joseph Smith and the early Saints. While in Liberty, we visited the monument dedicated to the 8 Witnesses of the Book of Mormon.
It was good to read their testimonies on the plaque. On the other side of the plaque was a tribute to the members of Zion's Camp, those men that came to help the Missouri Saints when the mobs drove them out. Not too far from this place, on the banks of the Fishing River is where Zion's Camp stayed when the miraculous storm protected them from the mobs. Even the mobbers recognized that God was in that storm.
Next we drove to Richmond, MO.
On the way we drove into the middle of nowhere and found the grave site of Hiram Page one of the eight witnesses to the Book of Mormon.
Then we continued on to Richmond where we found the monument to the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon.
This monument was awesome. On the large plaque was the Three Witnesses' testimony. This monument was in the Pioneer cemetery in Richmond. We were able to see many graves of the early Saints that lived in Independence and the surrounding areas.
Included in this cemetery was the graves of some of the Whitmer family, including Peter Whitmer Sr. It was a special place. The Three Witnesses monument also marks the grave site of Oliver Cowdrey.
Also in Richmond, we visited many of the places the Saints had been while living here in Ray County. The actual buildings are now gone but there are plaques showing where they used to be. These included the Ray county jail, David Whiter's livery stable, the place of the Whitmer home and Parley P. Pratt's place. The middle picture is of the place of the jail where Joseph rebuked the guards. In this place, the guards were making fun of the Mormons and bragging about all the abuse they had done to the Saints. Finally Joseph could not stand it any longer and stood straight up, chains and all, and yelled at the guards to stop. His words were so powerful and intense that the guards instantly stopped and looked ashamed. They did not say another word for the rest of the night. Pretty amazing.
In the Richmond cemetery, we found the graves of two important people. The first one is the reason we went there, David Whitmer. He was one of the Three Witnesses. The other was of Bob Ford. He was he man that supposedly killed Jesse James.
After leaving Richmond, we drove up to Far West. There we saw the Far West temple grounds.
The temple at Far West was never built because the Saints were driven out of Far West. Before they left though, the four cornerstones of the temple were placed and dedicated. That is all that is there now. Each cornerstone is enclosed in glass to preserve them. Each cornerstone represents a branch of the Priesthood.
On the temple site at Far West, there is a big monument marking the temple spot. On the plaque is some of the revelations given at Far West including tithing (D&C 119), and the missions of the Twelve (D&C 118) and others. One interesting story is that it was revealed to Joseph that the Twelve would go on missions and leave from the temple site on the 26th of April. When the mobbers heard this, they were determined to see that this prophesy was not fulfilled so they made every effort to drive the saints out before then. However this prophesy was fulfilled even though it meant some of the Twelve had to hide out and they left in the middle of the night.
Russell and I wonder if one day there will be a temple on this site just like the temple in Nauvoo was rebuilt on its original cornerstones.
Next we drove to the middle of nowhere to Haun's Mill.
Russell and Emily are standing in the actual field where Haun's Mill used to be. There was nothing there but a cement plaque on the ground and a solemn feeling all around us. I am standing by the Haun's Mill memorial in Breckenridge, MO. This memorial was dedicated to the saints killed in the Haun's Mill massacre. The mill stone in the middle is from the actual mill. When the Extermination Order was announced, Joseph warned the people living at Haun's Mill to leave the mill and move into town either Far West or Adam-ondi-ahman. They did not obey because they thought they were safe. Then the very next day they were attacked and killed. This is a terrible way to learn but it is always important to obey the counsel of the Prophet. For this reason, the area at Haun's Mill was a very somber place.
Our next stop was Adam-ondi-ahman. On the way though, we saw another Amish buggy!
Adam-ondi-ahman was a beautiful place. It was just a big open field. There was not a visitor center or anything just a lookout point that looked out over the whole valley. There was also a little walking trail down into the valley. The land is currently used by the Church as farmland. A lot of hay and other things are grown here and used in other Church owned places.
Adam-ondi-Ahman is where Adam gathered his righteous posterity at the end of his life and taught and blessed them. This is where Adam will come and visit his people and where all those who have held Keys will stand with him before Christ at his Second Coming. He will then turn his stewardship over to Christ. Adam will do a lot of things here before the Second Coming. This was also revealed to Joseph Smith that an ancient Nephite alter is located on this area.
Also this place was the area the Kirtland Saints came after leaving Kirtland. This and Far West were the main settlements for the early Saints after being driven out of Clay and Ray counties and leaving Kirtland. A temple site was also located in Adam-ondi-ahman but nothing was done because they were then driven completely out of Missouri.
We really liked Adam-ondi-ahman. It was a good place to stop and stretch our legs and let the kids run around for a minute. It was also very beautiful as we looked out over the valley.
As we drove back to Independence after a full day of sightseeing, we made one last stop before heading back to the trailer: the Kansas City, MO temple.
This is a beautiful temple that serves all of the area around Independence and Kansas City. It is one of the smaller temples and is kind of similar to the Brigham city temple on the outside design.
We headed back to the trailer for dinner and a bit of playing before bed. Missouri was so hot and humid! We about melted in our trailer because we didn't have air conditioning. We just sat and sweated. Finally Russell went to buy another fan to hopefully circulate the air with our other fan. This helped a tiny bit but not enough. So we just grinned and bore it wondering how the early Saints dealt with this heat.
Despite this and getting mad at the GPS on my phone for leading us on some wild goose chases, we did have a good day and learned so much more about the Saints lives and trials in Missouri. Walking around and being in these actual places in history, really makes you appreciate and respect the sacrifices these early Saints had to make to bring the gospel to where it is now.
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