Off The Beaten Track, Part 1!

Having a historian and an archaelogist as a tour guide rather than just being on our own helped us to see some significant but out-of-the-way places!

One of these was Topfield, Massachusetts:

This is the Congregational church originally built in 1663 (but since rebuilt). Five generations of Smiths including Joseph Smith Sr. attended church here.  There is a plaque on the grounds.

 We also stopped at the site of the Smith homestead: There is also a plaque commemorating this site.  The original home was built in 1690 and four generations of Smiths lived there.  The current home you can see in the background was built in 1876.  It is currently a private residence.

We visited the small town of Tunbridge, Vermont and had lunch at the Tunbridge Store.   Solomon Mack, Lucy Mack Smith's father had moved into the area in 1795. He and his son's established the general store as well as a local mill. It was at this general store that Joseph Smith Sr. met Lucy Mack. They were married in 1796.

During the years of 1812-1813 a plague of Typhoid fever devastated the New England countryside.  Sixty-four-hundred people died in five months  All of the Smith children were infected to some degree. Thinking the lowlands where they lived contributed to the sickness, they left Vermont and moved to West Lebanon, New Hampshire. 

The Smith family rented a home located on the southeast corner of Benning and Main. A KFC now stands on the site.  We had dinner there.  This is where Joseph had the operation on his leg which became infected due to his bout with the fever.

Then they moved to Norwich, Vermont in 1813 to this home. Although the home has been restored and remodeled over the years, the front of the house and its basic look is essentially the same as when the Smiths lived there.  It is a private residence.

This is  a photo of the land farmed by Joseph Smith Sr. The Smith family had two successive seasons of crop failure.   

Joseph Sr. planted one last time in hope of success.  If this resulted in failure he would take the family to New York where most of his brothers had migrated. The results of the third year were the same, total failure.  In fact the  year 1816 was known as the year with out a summer.  Snow fell in June.  This phenomenon was due to a change in weather patterns caused by the volcanic eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia.  After 3 years in this home the family moved to Palmyra.

It was fun and interesting to visit these places!