Day 2 - Kirtland

John Johnson Home (Hiram, OH) and the Cleveland Indians game...
The beautiful John Johnson home in Hiram, Ohio. Joseph would walk down to Hiram front Kirtland while the saints were headquartered in Ohio. Many wonderful sections of the Doctrine and Covenants were received here. Also other meetings and Conferences of the church occurred here.


Here is the summer kitchen in the house. It is off the main par of the house with two doors, which allowed for a cross breeze. For those of you who have been to Ohio, you know what a luxury that would be to have. The Johnson's were well off, so they were able to build a large house with many bonuses and luxuries other famlies would not have had back in that day.


Here is the main kitchen. It was also very large and well stocked. They had a crane to pull the pot away from the fire, and oven as well as a warming cupboard above the fireplace. You can see all of the fancy painting and designs. That was another sign of wealth.


This is the lower meeting room in the Johnson Home. One of the priesthood conferences would have been held here.


This is the bedroom downstairs. This is the room where Emma and Joseph would have stayed when they were living with the Johnson family. This is the bed were Joseph was dragged out by the mob to be tarred and feathered. The front door was right next to this room. One of the twins Joseph and Emma adopted from the Murdocks ded a few days later because he was already sick and was then exposed to the cold weather because of the events of that night. Joseph and Emma struggled to keep any of their kids. It is so sad to think they had to lose another baby for reasons outside their control.


They had two bedrooms upstairs for the girls and the loft area for the boys. Off those rooms they had a 'craft room'. Here is a picture of the project the church has set up to represent this room. Can you imagine making everythingyou use? Clothes, rugs, blankets, etc. It is so amazing everything they did back then.


In the revelation room (my favorite room and a very sacred room) in the Johnson home there are two Bibles that are the same edition of the type of Bibles Joseph and Sidney Rigdon would have used while they were studying, translating and receiving revelations. I love they fact that Joseph would study and seek clarification and added knowledge to the subject or verse he wa studying. He would then go to the Lord in prayer and receive the revelations and answers we now have as the Doctrine and Covenants. We are so blessed to have all the scriptures and truths we have so readily available to us.


I just realized I did not take a picture of the revelation room without us in it. :( That's ok, here we are in this sacred room. This is where section 76, among others was received. The Spirit is so strong here and is truly a sacred place. I could tell you so much more about this, but I will keep it short since there is so much to cover on this post.


Here is the front door where Joseph was taken by the mob. It is also the location (original steps) where Joseph courageously stood and gave his sermon the next day with some of the same mob members standing in the crowd. The picture below is a pulled back view where that sermon would have been given.


Many people who heard Joseph speak at this meeting asked to be taken to the river and baptized that same day. What an amazing example of a faithful, strong person willing to push forward and keep going, even with such pain, suffering and opposition.


Here is the beautiful Johnson Farm. When I was serving my mission the church had apple trees and strawberries here. I never had the chance to come and pick strawberries, but I did come and help prune the apple trees. Sadly the church is no longer doing the farming in this area. Such a beautiful area though! :)


Just outside of Hiram is Middlefield. There is a large Amish community there.
I took some pictures from the car, so I did not make such a seen. I have great respect for the Amis. They are very hard working and very kind people.


We also realized (from the couple missionaries at the Johnson home) that Middlefield is also the location for the Duncan factory. Here is where they make Duncan yo yos. My dad was the play ground champion of his elementary school... needless to say, we was very excited about this and we had to go. Here is my dad, loving the Duncan shop. :) Glad we could find a little treasure for you dad!


We also went to the Indians game (we are all big baseball fans, so we try to hit all the baseball parks wherever we travel to). This is my mom taking a picture of my dad and I. It as nice weather and we had a good time at the game. I have to say they have the least options and the least yummy food of all the parks I have been to, so far.