palmyra-kirtland LDS Blog

May 10 – 20, 2021

Click here for a full listing of all our Church History Tour dates and itineraries.

Below is a brief outline of the trip.  Click here for a detailed itinerary.

May 10:  Today you will fly to Rochester, New York.  There are no group activities today so you can fly anytime you would like.

 

May 11:  We will spend a full day seeing the sites in Palmyra.  Our stops will include the Sacred Grove, the Smith Family Farm, the rebuilt log home where the Moroni visits took place, the Hill Cumorah, the Grandin Press (where the Book of Mormon was first published), the Martin Harris Farm, the Palmyra Cemetery, and the exterior of the Palmyra Temple.  There will be time to attend the Palmyra Temple this evening for those interested. (Breakfast and Lunch provided)
  May 12:  Today we move on to Fayette, NY and visit the Peter Whitmer Farm.  This is where the Church was officially organized.  We then journey on to Harmony, PA and the Susquehanna River.  It was here that the Priesthood was restored and where most of the Book of Mormon was translated.  The Church has recently rebuilt Joseph and Emma’s home, installed new statues and historical markers, and built a new Visitors’ Center on the banks of the Susquehanna.  (Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner provided)
May 13: We will travel to Hiram, Ohio today and visit the John Johnson Farm.  It was here that Section 76 was received.  Joseph and Sidney saw the Celestial Kingdom, the Father and the Savior, and many other things in the upper room of this home.  This is a very sacred place.  We will then continue on to Kirtland and hold a devotional on the grounds of the Kirtland Temple.  (Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner provided)
May 14:  Our full day in Kirtland begins with a private tour of the interior of the Kirtland Temple.  Throughout the day, we will visit the LDS Kirtland Visitors’ Center, the Newell K. Whitney home where Joseph and Emma lived, the Newell K. Whitney store which included the School of the Prophets, and where many revelations (including the Word of Wisdom) were received, the John Johnson Inn where the Church periodical The Evening and Morning Star was published, the reconstructed Kirtland Schoolhouse, the Kirtland Ashery and a reconstructed water-powered sawmill, a home of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and the Chaplin Forest Stone Quarry where much of the stone for the Kirtland Temple was obtained.  We will also visit the Morley Farm where some of the first missionaries were sent out from, the Father and Son appeared, and where the first High Priests were ordained. (Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner provided)

 

  May 15:  Today we will transfer to the Cleveland, Ohio airport for our flight to Kansas City, Missouri.  Once in Missouri, a chartered bus will be ready to take us to the hotel to get checked in.  We fly to Kansas City to avoid a 10 hour bus ride, plus it keeps the sites we visit in chronological order.  (Breakfast provided)  This flight is INCLUDED in the price of the tour.

 

IMG_1540 May 16:  Our day will start with a Sacrament meeting with a local ward in Independence, Missouri.  We will then start the Missouri portion of our Church History Tour.  It will be a full day of sightseeing. We will visit Independence, Liberty Jail, the temple lot in Far West, and Adam-ondi-Ahman. (Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner provided)
  May 17:  Today is our first day in Nauvoo!  The day will be spent seeing the sites of Nauvoo which include Joseph Smith’s home and grave site, the Red Brick Store, the LDS Visitors’ Center, the Relief Society Statue Gardens, Carriage & Wagon rides, the Seventies Hall, Brigham Young’s home, Wilford Woodruff’s home, Heber C. Kimball’s home, and many other historical sites.  You may also want to visit the Land and Records Center to discover your personal Nauvoo heritage. (Breakfast and Dinner provided)
  May 18:  Our second full day in Nauvoo!  Look through our detailed itinerary for a full listing of everything there is to do in Nauvoo.  Our day will begin by visiting the sites we missed yesterday before taking a walk down the Trail of Hope.  It was here that the Saints took their first steps toward the Salt Lake Valley.  (Breakfast and Dinner provided)

 

 

 

 Carthage May 19:  We will have a few hours in Nauvoo this morning before visiting Carthage Jail.  It was here that Joseph and Hyrum sealed their testimonies as martyrs.  A stop in Quincy, Illinois (site of an early encampment of the Saints) will complete our day before we arrive in St. Louis, Missouri for dinner. (Breakfast and Dinner provided)
 May 20:  Transportation to the airport for your flight home will be provided. (Breakfast provided)

 

Join us for a spiritual journey to the sites of the Restoration as we visit Palmyra, Fayette, Susquehanna, Kirtland, Independence, Liberty Jail, Far West, Adam-ondi-Ahman, Nauvoo, Carthage Jail, and so much more!  Hear the stories and read the revelations at the actual sites where they took place.  Be taught while traveling and while visiting these sacred sites by historical guides, set apart missionaries, and each other.  We won’t just talk about the history of these places, but how the stories of the past can help us draw closer to the Savior in our everyday lives!

Register Here | Testimonials

Pricing is per person and based on hotel room occupancy: 
Double Occupancy: $2,199
Triple Occupancy: $1,999
Quad Occupancy: $1,849
Single Occupancy: $2,739
Prices include: Deluxe chartered bus, all hotels, airport transfers, almost every meal, cold bottled water each day, personal tour guide, on bus history lectures, the flight between Ohio and Missouri, and all fees.  Price does not include airfare to Rochester, NY or from St. Louis, MO.  Please see below for additional airfare information.

Register Here | Detailed Itinerary Testimonials

Join Tom Pettit and visit the Church history sites of Palmyra, Kirkland, Missouri and Nauvoo.  Learn more about Tom by visiting his Blog, visiting our Video page, and by visiting our About Us page.  Hear Tom tell the stories and teach the revelations at the actual sites they took place at!  Tom’s unique focus on these tours is not to just teach the history, but to help you draw closer to the Savior by applying the lessons learned from these historical events to your own daily life.  Tom has become a student of the information taught on this and other Church history tours.  He has been teaching the gospel to youth and adults continuously for the last 18 years by serving as a youth Sunday School teacher, an Elders Quorum presidency councilor, Ward Young Men’s Presidency councilor, Stake Young Men’s Presidency councilor, Gospel Doctrine teacher, Mission Prep class teacher, counselor in the Bishopric, Stake Young Men’s President, and High Councilor.  He is the author of Adam-ondi-Ahman: Sacred History.  Promised Future.  and is a frequent guest speaker at Learn Our Religion.  Tom served his mission in Australia.  He and his wife Lesa have five children and live in Lehi, UT.

Booking Requirements: A $300 initial payment, per person, is required to confirm your reservation.  This $300 is applied to your total balance due.  Your $300 payment can be paid when completing our online Registration Form.  Please contact us if you would prefer to pay by check.  A complete quote can be obtained by contacting us.

Terms and Conditions: All Rates are per person and based on hotel room occupancy.  Prices listed are cash/check prices.  If you would like to make your final payment with a credit or debit card, please add 2.9% for the bank’s transaction fee.

Temples:  You will have the opportunity to attend the Palmyra Temple, and the Nauvoo Temple.

Flights:  We can help you locate the best price and the best itinerary for your flights, but you will ultimately book directly with the airline carrier.  When you land in Rochester, we will have a shuttle van waiting to take you directly to our hotel.

Buses:  Our deluxe chartered bus provides the best comfort available for our journey.  We only charter the best buses and also the best professional drivers.  We will only take one bus on each tour.  Having one bus allows our guide to spend the whole day with you telling the history, doctrine, and stories.  Plus, if you join a tour with more than one bus, you end up spending all of your time waiting in line for meals and the restroom!

Headsets: We have found that headsets for this tour are unnecessary.  Our bus is equipped with a microphone and speakers which our guide will utilize for easy listening.  While at each historic site, the onsite missionaries will divide our group into smaller groups which allows each person the opportunity to be near enough to the speaker to not require a headset.  Plus, headsets tend to give more trouble then worth so we make sure you can hear clearly every spoken word without the use of a headset.

Niagara Falls: There is a disadvantage to adding Niagara Falls into the itinerary.  Including the Falls as part of the tour requires a deviation from the chronological order of visiting the Church History sites.  It also requires an extra day, which requires extra expense.  For those that wish to visit Niagara Falls, we encourage you to fly to Rochester a day early and visit Niagara Falls on your own or with a local tour company.  We can coordinate with our hotel in Rochester for your early check in so you don’t have to switch hotels once the tour begins.

Click Here to read what others are saying about our Church History Tours.